A Stitch in Time
by vampyre.vampyre
Summary: It all fell apart after she died. They won the battles but they lost the war. Trained his whole life for this purpose, on the brink of extinction, humanity on Remnant sends one person back to reset the course.
1. Chapter 1

I binge watched RWBY volumes 1 through 3, and of course, they killed off my favorite character. It's fairly well foreshadowed and well done, and it seems pretty clear she's not comic-book dead but actually gone.

That's fine for the story, but as a new fan I can't help wanting to change it. This is my attempt. I'm not sure how far this goes, where, or what the end is, but I know it's going to be violent and dark. **I'm not going to warn you, so if reading about difficult or mature subjects might cause you problems, don't read this.**

This is really just a process of dealing with an expected disappointment. In other words, I'm writing this for me. If you enjoy it I'm pleased, but I am not writing it for you and I'm not sure if I'll complete it.

Yes, this also means adding in an OC. I'll try to keep it from being a Mary Sue/Gary Stu.

As of publishing this chapter I have written over 29000 words, and I'm about half-way through what would be volume 1. And things might slow down in later volume areas where there are more events. Consider this fair warning.

Finally, I'm not sure I'll finish. I want to, but I get distracted.

 **20 years after the fall of Beacon**

She was always imperious, cold and white and self-assured. Always right. Still, she was difficult to argue with.

"There's no time left. Ready or not we've no choice. This is what you've prepared your entire life to do; it is your purpose. Set things right, at any cost."

"Mother, please…"

"Now. We've lost; grimm pour into the fortress and they'll be here any minute. Your aunt and I will hold them back as long as we can but now is not the time to falter." She stepped forward to him, her hand caressing his tearful face. "I've not been the mother you deserved, and your life… it's not fair but this is it. There's nowhere else to go… do this one last thing for me.

He bows his head, accepting what he's always known. She would never say it, because she never felt it. He was a useful tool, the key to changing what went wrong and saving the human race. And all it cost him was everything.

She joined her yellow haired partner, stepping out of the chamber and sealing him in behind hermetically sealed locks in what was effectively a vault as he began to form the glyphs only he could make. His aura flared with his father's legacy and his eyes burned with the stolen power that would let him make the journey no one else could. Back to Vale, back to Beacon, but to them, before. He wore no clothes, took no weapons. Nothing but him would go back, as he was now.

The matrix was complex, designed by his mother and other experts over a decade, specifically for this room, for this purpose, and only for him. Concentrating, he struggled to make each glyph perfect, dilating time and accelerating his mass forward in an infinite loop of speed. The noise outside grew intense, then quiet, and then the vault doors began to rumble, but still he kept his concentration.

The doors punched in and began to fall as the grimm breached the vault, only to hit his prepared dilation glyph and stop in time for a few moments. Time was up; he released the dilation glyph holding him in the matrix loop and flung himself forward, past the speed of light and into the past.

 **The spring before the final academic year at Beacon**

There was no flash, just a small bang from pushing the air outward as his body stopped in time where the loop finally drained of energy, 400 meters in the air above the soft snowy ground outside Atlas. He dropped quickly toward a Schnee dust warehouse. Most of his aura was gone, and the entirety of the stolen power, but he had just enough to weave the dilation glyph necessary to slow his fall.

He hit the roof with a thump and a slight bounce, groaning even as he began to slide down the snow covered icy slope and into what will be another multi-story fall, this time likely to his death. His aura completely gone, the cold snow bit into his bare skin, the tiles scratching and leaving him bleeding as he picked up speed on the slope. He succeeded in catching the gutter at the end of the roof with his fingers, having flipped himself over onto his hands and knees as he scrambled for purchase on the ice.

Hanging from the guttering, feeling the wrench in his shoulders as they nearly dislocated from stopping his slide, he quickly looked for a way down or into the building. The guttering began to groan and tear away from the building; it was sturdier than common guttering but not meant to catch and hold his weight. As it began to pull away, he could see no way down from where he was, so he held tightly to it and hoped. Luck was with him however, as one end broke and swung down, acting like a swinging rope as he dropped closer to the ground, but in a such a way that he could control his fall and avoid injury. He touched ground and fell into a forward roll, spinning onto his side and rolling through the thick snow, but also slowed and cushioned from the fall.

No time to spare; it was far below freezing and he was completely naked and now bleeding on his back, knees, and fingertips. Frostbite, and maybe gangrene, if he didn't die of exposure. There was a guard shack ahead at the gate but the warehouse is closer, and presumably warmer than where he is now. Dust doesn't care about the temperature, but the warehouse workers and the guards would, and it was the middle of the workday. Already he'd been noticed.

One might have expected him to fight capture or flee, but he was depending on these people for his survival. Once again, that spark of hope was rewarded. Even as he collapsed into the snow, he could feel strong hands and arms lifting him, rushing him to warmth. Darkness claimed his consciousness.

He woke what must be several hours later, laying on a couch and covered with a thick blanket. Standing nearby was an older bald man dressed in a Schnee uniform, his stomach pouching out with a bit of extra weight, and a concerned look on his face. A couple of young women, older than him to some degree are also present, but he's still too cold to blush and he's quite used to scrutiny over his body, and everything else.

"Boy, are you all right? It's not every day a bleeding naked man appears at my warehouse, having fallen onto the roof and ripped down the gutter."

He tried to speak, but only succeeds in a pitiful moan at first. "I apologize for the damage and the nature of my appearance. I must speak to Mr. Schnee."

"Well boy, I'm not in the habit of contacting my employer to see random naked men, even when they fall from the sky. How about you tell me your name and I'll see what I think then."

"Blanc. Tell him his grandson wishes to see him."

 **Schnee family home, several hours later**

"You dare claim to be my grandson? Who, exactly, would be your mother, scoundrel? I'll admit, you have the right coloring, but the wrong build, and my daughters are too close to your age, and neither have had children."

Blanc said nothing, but having recovered enough aura, and being clothed, albeit in a Schnee worker's uniform, he simply raised his hand and began the planned glyph. Out of the white spinning object appeared the glowing white form of a summoned grimm stalker, tall and gangly, with reverse jointed knees like a crane, before Blanc released it.

His grandfather was noticeably shocked. He couldn't be the man's grandson but he's obviously of the same bloodline, and the boy was too old for him to be unknown. "I've come here from the future; that's why you don't know me. I've come to stop the end of everything."

Mr. Schnee was no longer skeptical. Instead he was unconscious, having passed out from the stress. Blanc sighed and sat down. He told his mother this wasn't going to go the way she thought it would, but it was a start.

The doors to the man's office opened, allowing a young white haired girl to enter. "Father, I've been accepted to Beacon acad… hello, I apologize. I did not know my father was meeting with anyone this afternoon."

"That's ok Mot… my lady. My meeting with your father was unexpected. I'm afraid he may be ill."

The girl turned to look at her father again, then summoned some servant androids to take her father to his room. "I think you'll have to excuse him and return another day; is there any message you'd like me to give to him?"

"Well, I'm afraid I must wait. The matter at hand is too important to return tomorrow and I must have his help as soon as possible." Blanc responded. He had nowhere to go and no way to get there, and no way that her father could contact him if he left.

"Can I ask who you are? You look very familiar but I don't believe we've met."

"We have, but you wouldn't remember. My name is Blanc."

"Are you a cousin, perhaps? Surely you're of some relation." She spoke "My name is Weiss, Weiss Schnee."

Blanc looked away. "No, I'm afraid I'm not a cousin. Is there a room where I could wait for your father to recover?"

After a few moments of awkward silence, Weiss led the rather attractive boy, wearing a common Schnee worker uniform, to their sitting room to wait, and then departed, while Blanc thought about why he was deviating from the plan. Obviously, the shock of meeting someone from the future was likely to cause problems, particularly for those who aren't more prepared. Even he thought the idea absurd, and he was the traveler. He'd already told his grandfather; proven his relation, in fact, though he'd done nothing to prove he was actually the grandson of the last of the great Schnee men. His mother had insisted he tell Weiss as soon as he saw her, but he couldn't. She wasn't ready and he feared it would taint his mission. Perhaps it was best if he left and struck out on his own. He'd been trained in infiltration; used it to escape his years long imprisonment. Surely he could sneak his way to Vale on one of the many dust transports that headed there and elsewhere in Remnant daily. He got up to leave, but as he reached out for the door, it suddenly opened.

Weiss was on the other side, startled. "Oh, I was just coming to get you. My father has recovered and insists on seeing your right away. Please, follow me."

More awkward silence as he was lead down the corridor to the man's room, but he felt it best to say nothing. He'd need to be more careful with what he said and to whom. All things considered, he could definitely use the assistance of the Schnee Dust Company.

"Through here." Weiss opened the door.

"Come in my boy. I'm very sorry, it just that it's not every day you meet …"

Blanc interrupted him. "I'm afraid my concerns can't wait, but need to remain private." He wasn't glaring at her, but she felt uncomfortable under his gaze, as if she'd done something terribly wrong.

"Yes, of course. Weiss my dear, please excuse us."

Weiss left without a word or an argument, grateful to escape.

Blanc stepped in and shut the door behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Vale, Schnee docks**

A few days later, Blanc stepped off a Schnee air transport. He wore common traveling clothes, dark brown trousers, a crisp white button up shirt, and a dark brown leather duster with a single brown belt and common brown workboots. He carried no weapons, but he was in Vale. From here he would make his way to Beacon. His grandfather had contacted Professor Ozpin to prepare the way for him; Blanc would need at least one ally he could count on to help him, though Blanc had decided that secrecy was warranted. He'd avoided Weiss and her sister, his grandmother, and anyone else, though his grandfather hadn't seen the reason to do so. Like father like daughter, he supposed, but Blanc had learned that being too open lead to betrayal.

Professor Goodwitch was there to greet him. "Good morning; right on schedule. I'd honestly expected you to be dressed more …"

"Snobby?" he responded.

"Formal." She replied. She appeared as the photographs of her academy days had shown her, attractive if a bit stern, but he still remembered the warm woman from his early childhood who'd visited and regaled him with tales of great hunters and huntresses, and encouraged him the way only his aunt Ruby did after Gramma Glynda fell. "This way. We've another short flight to Beacon, and the headmaster would like to see you straight away."

"Thank you. I'm very appreciative. I apologize if my dress isn't suited to our meeting, but I'm not particularly picky and I have a need to remain unnoticed."

She turned to peer at him as they walked. "Of course."

The flight was remarkably quiet, and Glynda Goodwitch said nothing else until they arrived at the headmaster's office.

Ozpin wasn't as imposing as he'd expected, but appeared to be quite inquisitive looking over a steaming mug of … something. Blanc couldn't smell it as he came to the other side of the desk while Glynda slipped behind the desk to stand next to the headmaster.

"President Schnee does not regularly contact me. I'd expected that perhaps his call was about the admittance of his daughter Weiss, as I'm certain he'd have preferred she attend Atlas, but he was most insistent I speak with you, but would not tell me why. You have me very intrigued, Mr…"

"Arc. Blanc Arc. What I have to speak with you about is quite sensitive; I believe it is in our best interests if we keep what I am going to tell you secret. The more what I say is known, the less useful the information will be."

"Very well. Professor Goodwitch and I are quite capable of the necessary discretion. Please, proceed. Your benefactor did not give your name, but I'd honestly expected you to be a Schnee, if only from your hair color and skin tone."

Blanc paused, then proceeded along the planned speech for this moment, practiced many times.

"My name is Blanc Arc, and I am from the future." He didn't pause to give them time to laugh or interrupt. "I come to you now because there was no other choice. If we do nothing, by the end of the coming school year Beacon will fall, Vale will be invaded, and humanity's fate will be sealed."

Ozpin and Goodwitch stared at the youth. Goodwitch then responded "I assume you can somehow prove this tale? Something you brought with you from the future; some information you shouldn't know but do, or some quick prediction?"

"Would you like another cup, professor?" Ozbin looked down and then gasped. A glyph he'd never seen before appeared to the left of his mug, and an identical copy of the mug appeared there, only for an identical glyph to appear below the original mug, and for that mug to disappear. For a few moments, there were two mugs, perfectly identical.

"How? How is this possible?"

"You are familiar with time dilation? This is an extension of that. The glyph slows the object in time to perfect stillness, then translocates and opens a small hole in space-time, moving the object into the past. I've trained many years to be able to do this, and it requires a lot of concentration, and to move anything of significant size or more than a few moments in to the past requires a great deal of power. I have my father's aura; you recognize the significance of my family name? And beyond that, I have this."

Blanc's eyes began to glow with the fire of the fall maiden's power.

Instantly, Ozpin was on his feet, cane leveled at the young man displaying what could not be his. "What have you done?"

Blanc's eyes widened; he'd made an error. "Wait, let me explain. It's not what you believe. Well it is but it isn't." Ozpin's eyes narrowed as Goodwitch circled behind Blanc. "If it hasn't happened already, the fall maiden will be attacked by a group to take her power. They will somehow steal part of the maiden's power, while the maiden still lives. Qrow will save her and bring her here, and you will look for someone to pass the remainder of her power to, in order to prevent them from stealing the rest."

Glynda was shocked; they'd told no one and the events Arc spoke of had only occurred a few days prior.

"They will orchestrate the fall of Beacon so they can get access to the maiden … brown… her name is… Amber, yes. Amber. They'll kill Amber and take the remainder of the power as you're trying to transfer it to your chosen replacement."

Ozpin sat wearily. "Go on."

"The girl will face their leader at the top of the tower after the grimm dragon escapes from the mountain trap and begins to destroy it, and she will fail. She's killed in front of Ruby Rose, who'll release the summer aspect obtained when Ruby's mother died." At that, Ozpin smirked, glad that at least some things were going in their favor.

"It drives her away, and freezes the dragon. After that is a long, two-year war in which the hunters and huntresses of Vale try to defend the city and find justice for what they did. Eventually, my father kills her at the cost of his own life. Present are only Ruby Rose, already an aspect, and my mother, who was unknowingly pregnant with me at the time. When she had me, because she was no longer a Maiden, the power passed to me, as I was still virginal, despite being male."

"So the power requires celibacy?" Goodwitch inquired.

"Only at the moment of transference. After that, the power will stay until the aspect dies."

"But how do you know it can stay…" Blanc interrupted Goodwitch. "Because I still have my power from it, despite everything." Glynda started to speak but was interrupted. "Gramma, please… don't ask."

Ozpin noticed the subtle shaking of an angry Mt. Goodwitch and wisely choose to move the conversation along. "So, you control the fall maiden's power, in full, then? And what of our maiden?"

Blanc turned to him. "Time doesn't work the way you'd think it would. When I move something back in time, it doesn't create a new dimension, and if I destroy the object before it goes back in time, it doesn't affect the object after it's passed through. The object, despite being identical, becomes a completely new thing in space-time. If I go back in time and kill myself, I will live on, despite never going back in time to kill myself. There is no paradox, there is no split dimensional shift that destroys the old dimension in favor of the new one. A new object simply comes into existence… so your fall maiden's power resides partly in herself, and partly in their leader now, and a copy of it exists entirely in me, taken from her and stolen by me in utero."

"That seems a strange way to put it. Stolen power."

Blanc looked down. "I've never heard it called anything else. It's a maiden's power and I'm not a maiden. It was intended for someone else. Is intended."

"So, what now then, Mr. Arc."

Blanc looked up, first at Goodwitch, who'd returned to her place beside Ozpin, and then at the headmaster. "We have a plan. We believe everything fell apart when the chosen maiden was killed rather than gaining the fall powers. I'm here to train her, save her, and then… pass her rightful powers to her."

"So, your plan is to die." Responded Ozpin, to Goodwitch's shocked and then angry face.

"There's no choice. If I don't the grimm overrun humanity. It's what I've trained for my entire life." Blanc turned to look out the glass of Ozpins office at the distance city of Vale. "I must die if they're to live."

"But not yet. So, how are you going to enact your plan, and how can we help." Glynda Goodwitch was steaming. They were discussing a young man's suicide plans. "How? How can you be a party to this… madness? Even if what he says is true, how can we condemn him?"

Blanc ignored her, unable to answer a question he'd asked himself so many times. "You'll need to insert me into the incoming class somehow. You've already sent out acceptances. I believe the less we change the timeline, the more accurate our information about what will happen will remain, so that we can act on it as best as possible. You'll need to make sure all of the incoming students are still accepted."

Glynda thought about it a moment. "We train hunters and huntresses as teams, and we've accepted enough students to complete all of the teams. There's no room for you."

Blanc turned to look at her. "I don't need a team. I just need to be available. I can pass for an upper classman."

Ozpin responded "But the upper classmen won't know you, and you can't pass for a professor. I'm afraid you'll have to be a team of one." Blanc wasn't disturbed in the slightest. "Of course. I'm used to that anyway."

Goodwitch sighed, then sat in a chair across from the headmaster. "So it's decided then? You'll play along, hide among them, and what, train them for a coming war without letting them know what they're getting into, then die at the right time?"

"That's the plan."


	3. Chapter 3

**Opening day of the final year at Beacon**

Blanc stepped off the transport. He'd kept to himself, despite the difficulty in being around so many great people. His aunts, his father… he'd watched in cautious awe of the woman he was sent here to save. She looked the part; regal and strong in bronze and red armor, with the most beautiful green eyes, and hair like cascading fire. In all honesty, she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, and he'd been raised by many beautiful women. Perhaps he also had his father's taste in the fairer sex. He could definitely see what his aunt Ruby had told him caused his father to dwell on her so much after her death.

Ruby was there as well, impossibly young, cheerful and innocent though she seemed very anxious. The silver eyes of her summer aspect weren't as sharp without the faint glow her power would give them, but the black and red cloak hadn't changed, and she still had Crescent Rose. She was still girlish; just beginning to take on the womanly figure that his mother had so appreciated.

Aunt Yang was spending her time keeping aunt Ruby calm, but the bubbly happiness was something completely different to his experience with her. Yang loved to have fun; she'd had a spark for life when he'd known her, but the sharp edge of betrayal hadn't hit the young woman yet. Of the women he'd be close to while growing up, Yang was without a doubt the most traditionally feminine; a perfect hourglass shape, but this Yang was far more outgoing than he remembered. The loss of her arm, and the disappearance of her partner must've changed her immensely.

He'd never met Yang's partner, nor did he know what happened to her after Beacon fell. His mother and aunts seemed to know more but never spoke of her, except in hushed memories when one of them was particularly emotional or had drank too much, and never when they though he could hear them. He knew she was a faunus; perhaps she'd gone back to white fang before the faunus were completely exterminated by the grimm.

Weiss was ever herself; slim, imperial, cold like ice. He avoided her; she would know him from her father's home and he couldn't afford to be recognized yet.

He avoided his father as well, afraid to tamper with the partnerships, but he was immensely disappointed. Blanc had always been told how strong, brave, and powerful his father was; how he'd led the attack on Cinder, and sacrificed his life to give justice to the woman he loved and lost, and safety to the woman he'd found new love with. Jaune was pathetic. Motion sickness? The skyferry was smooth, gliding through the air like water down a slow moving river. No bouncing or turbulence like the faster transports and bullheads.

Now wasn't the time for introductions; he needed to wait until after they paired off as partners or he might interfere with the wrong partnership. He already knew he'd have no team; a first for the school, but he'd still have to go through the test. Some traditions would be too suspicious to skip.

He didn't give Ozpin or Goodwitch much attention at the speech. He was just passing time. He'd spent the remainder of the time before classes began forging copies of the weapons he'd trained with. He didn't need much, but what things he did his grandfather provided, and received a return on his investment. Technology from more than 20 years in the future would make Schnee Dust Corporation that much more valuable. Blanc had been given a dorm room to himself, and setup a nanolathe there with the material his grandfather provided, and then constructed his weapons and armor, sending copies to his grandfather for study and reproduction.

After the speech, he spent the night in the hall with the other new students, including his father, walking around in ridiculous footy pajamas. How did a buffoon like this become the man he was told was his father? Still, other than the hair color, the physical resemblance was astounding, so Blanc had stuck to wearing baggy clothing. But now he was stuck with sleepwear.

Blanc normally slept nude; he'd done it since he was a child, and he'd only worn clothes to sleep while surviving in the wilderness in his older years, and after he'd escaped. Still, he couldn't afford to let the people here see his skin; there would be too many questions he couldn't answer, but the size of his torso prevented baggy sleep clothing, so he'd gone with long pants and sleeves, despite the warm weather.

Despite his attempts to go unnoticed, his aunt Yang picked him out. She was practically drooling. "Hey, don't think I've seen you around here before. I'm Yang." She stuck out her hand. "You knew people here before attending?" He took it, pulling her forward until their elbows bumped, then snapping his hand away and going back for a fist bump. Yang played right into it. "Hey, this is just like the secret handshake Ruby and I made up. That's her over there. She's my little sister."

"Blanc. Nice to meet you Yang, and please give my regards to your sister as well." Then he sat back down on his bedroll.

"Uh, ok then. Bye." She walked away. Blanc tried hard not to stare; the aunt he knew was so much older, different, less free and expressive, and missing an arm. Well, a real arm, anyway. She did have an assortment of replacements. Blanc didn't want to get too involved yet; he was carefully avoiding changing the past too much in order to keep the information he had reliable. It felt manipulative, but he did his best not to be rude, and just quietly standoffish. So far it'd worked. He also saw Weiss, so he quickly bedded down in order to avoid her scrutiny. He did keep his ears open despite feigning sleep. Weiss hadn't changed much in the intervening years; still completely cold, completely self-centered.

The following day was the initiation, one of the most critical moments in this plan. He needed to complete the task without meeting with anyone else until after they'd all paired up. If not, small changes tended to lend themselves to big alterations with time, and the plan couldn't afford that.

The day was warm and sunny, and but he'd rose well before the others. He only slept four hours a day, sometimes less, and it was a habit he couldn't break, despite the lack of danger Vale currently presented. He'd retrieved his weapons and equipment early from the locker room to avoid any encounters with either the future members of teams RWBY or JNPR, so instead he went to the cliff and waited patiently on the first platform. He put on his modified armored duster, warm for the weather but necessary for what he'd be doing, and slid his bladed tonfa into the inside holsters in the ankle length coat. The tonfa were longer than normal, a solid blade with points on both ends and a flat surface toward the handles where he'd hold them, like a sword crossed with a nightstick. These also had the added ability of folding the short point into the handle and becoming single-edged longswords. On his back he attached the Opticor to the magnetic harness of the duster.

The Opticor was a state of the art weapon from just before he left the future. Using refined dust as a fuel, the weapon would superheat the dust into a compressed plasma, then polarize the air along a laser-marked path, firing the plasma at nearly the speed of light. When the plasma struck its target, the magnetic bubble containing it would rupture and release the plasma, causing an explosion. He couldn't refine the dust to the quality they could in the future, so the explosion was only about 2 meters in diameter and the weapon only carried 5 cartridges per magazine, but it would still be devastating. The Opticor was technically an anti-armor weapon, though they'd used it to punch through the toughest of grimm. Its biggest drawback was that firing the weapon required letting it charge each shot, which took almost two full seconds. He had been working on a design that would allow it to fire partially charged with a penalty of reduced damage, but that'd been before he left and he doubted he could do it with the dust as unrefined as it was in this time.

Slowly the others arrived, giving him odd looks but saying nothing. Each took a platform and began idly chatting while waiting on Ozpin and Goodwitch to arrive. He intentionally made himself appear unwelcoming, and while it didn't avoid scrutiny it kept people from talking to him. At the end of the line he could see the new jump pad they'd installed rather than have him reuse one of the others and launch after.

"Hey, don't I know you?" Blanc's eyes widened and he turned away. "I do! You were speaking to my father when he got ill that time. What are you doing here?"

Blanc said nothing. He was unprepared and he'd frozen. "I'm talking to you, don't turn away from me! I know you know who I am. How rude."

Weiss turned away in a huff herself, talking to Pyrrha Nikos, who was quietly standing prepared, her sword in hand. Several others had drawn their weapons in preparation as well, though others still did not.

"That said, the first person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next four years." Blanc turned to look at Ozpin. "That's absurd."

"You have a question Mr…" Blanc quickly interrupted "If it's supposed to be someone we can work well with, why would you choose that person randomly based on who you encounter first? Why not after working together?"

"Well, we feel it's best to be able to work with anyone as a huntress or hunter, and… well honestly it doesn't make sense but it's tradition."

Weiss was glaring at him, as if he wasn't supposed to speak, but now he wasn't a child. Blanc glared right back, blue meeting blue, and Weiss faltered and looked away.

"Are there any questions?" And then began he absurd story he'd been told by his aunt Ruby about his father and the initiation. Blanc cringed on his father's behalf and tuned it out, preparing for his launch. He could tell Ozpin was being intentionally obtuse about the 'landing strategy'. Ozpin was a special kind of dick.

He didn't get to hear the entirety, his platform sprung and he was in the air. They'd met at Beacon cliff for a reason; they needed the height to get any distance because the launching platforms were fairly weak. Soon he was plummeting, his duster flapping as he fell like a flag. He grabbed the opening edge on both side, and activated the pulse which made the two sides rigid, allowing him to begin gliding to his target. The magnetic harness on his back, and the holsters on the inside held up well to the force, complementing their construction and the sturdiness of the armored coat, but the weapons' weight was forcing him down faster than he'd prefer. He wasn't going to make it all the way to the temple, so he dove for an open field, then leveled out and fell into a roll along the long grass. Other students would be landing as well, but not even Yang with her shotgun propulsion would be able to get the same distance he did.

The coat had taken the brunt of the scrapping in the field, but held up well. Cautious and quiet, he drew his twin tonfa and proceeded toward where he believed the temple was, having been disoriented during the roll, and still a bit dizzy as his inner ear settled. He knew the others would be walking through the forest, and would come back this way on their way back to the cliff face. He was also certain that if he could make it to the temple without meeting anyone, they'd all be paired off by the time they arrived.

Despite his quiet entry, he hadn't been lucky with grimm. A group of Ursa blocked his direct path, and could sense his aura, though they didn't seem aware of his precise position. Having lost the possibility of a stealthy entrance to the target area, he opted to use overwhelming force, sliding his tonfa into his coat and pulling the Opticor off his back. He raised the weapon to firing position at his shoulder, sighted at two Ursa near enough to each other to hit with one shot, then depressed the trigger. The weapon began to whine, quickly increasing in pitch, then the polarizing laser shot out to the ground between the two grimm, and then bluish smoke trails following a bright blue pulse, and an explosion with a small shockwave. Both Ursa had a leg completely vaporized, and their large bodies tossed away, beginning to dissolve into black mist even as they fell away.

Now he had the groups full attention. Four more Ursa, began to roar and charge at him. He could get off another shot, but he'd only kill one and then the others would be on him. The Opticor was a bulky weapon; sturdy, but it wouldn't be something he could use to club them away, so he dropped it and pulled his tonfa, charging at the bear-like creatures and leaping at the first, ripping the blade through the side of its neck as he rolled between the dying monster's front and back limb, coming up underneath the next Ursa to plunge the long end of one Tonfa turned longsword into its soft belly and ripping downward toward it's crotch. A fatal blow, but fatal to him if he stayed underneath it when it fell. He laid in the grass and quickly rolled to the side, just clearing the beast as it hit the ground behind him, but catching his duster. Fortunately, it was between him and the other Ursa, but unfortunately he'd need to wait for it to begin dissolving to free the coat, and there was no way he'd get out of the coat before the other two Ursa were on him. Instead, he used a glyph to summon a grimm stalker to distract the two ursa.

The two remaining ursa would quickly overcome the bird-like creature with long legs and claws, and a sharp beak, but not before taking some severe injuries, and giving him plenty of time get up from the now dissolving corpse of the second ursa. Fortune favored him; the fourth ursa plunged a claw through the aura-construct stalker, but not before it had raked it's claws down the throat of the third ursa, killing it. Unbalanced by the disappearing attacker, the last ursa tumbled forward, and Blanc wasted no time or effort in plunging the longsword-tonfa through an eye into its skull, killing it instantly.

Blanc walked back to retrieve his fallen weapon and attach it to his back, and then began to proceed forward toward the stone temple ruins. He passed the crater left by the blast that'd killed the first two ursa; the air was still warm, the ground burnt and hardened, but no fire had spread. The weapon had originally been intended for use in mining and tunneling, but after one accident where it struck a dust vein and caused a devastating explosion, it was never used for such purposes again.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ruins, Emerald Forest during Initiation Test**

He had no more encounters on the way to the temple, and simply picking up the single black pawn. Point made, Ozpin. He stepped over to a fallen block of the temple wall and sat to wait.

Yang and a dark-haired girl were the first to arrive, picking a golden knight piece. "How about a cute little pony?" The brunette noticed him first. "Hello." Blanc ducked his head for a moment to acknowledge her and gave her a smile. "Blanc. Nice to meet you."

"Oh Hey again. Her name is Blake. Where's your partner?" Yang spoke up. "You two already know each other?" responded Blake. "Yeah. I was checking him out last night. Lookin' good, Blanc."

He squirmed a bit under her lusty scrutiny. "I don't have one yet. I didn't meet anyone on the way here, and it looks like you two are paired up already." Yang was making a purring noise, when suddenly there was a girlish scream in the distance. Blanc began climbing blocks to get a better look when sudden Blake began pointing up, and aunt Ruby was falling from the sky, only for his father to improbably smack into her. Worried for their safety Blanc quickly used a dilation glyph to slow their motion, though they both ended up in a tree, Jaune hanging upside down. Blake, however, had noticedthe glyph where Yang had not. Then, bursting out of the tree line came a large ursa, bigger than the individuals of the pack he'd destroyed on the way there. The redhead killed it quickly with a pink grenade, then rolled off it's back, quickly followed by the black haired man in a green waistcoat. Her name was evidently Nora, and his Ren, and she picked up a golden rook as Pyrrha ran out of the trees, quickly followed by a scorpion-like deathstalker.

Weiss began to fall from a nevermore, and seeing his father leap out to catch her, Blanc used another dilation glyph to slow their fall, preventing any serious injury. Ruby quickly ran out to confront the deathstalker, only to be caught by nevermore quills and almost killed by a tail strike from the deathstalker. Weiss rushed forward, using a glyph, and froze the deadly tail, pinning the grimm and saving Ruby. Blake noticed the similarities between Weiss and Blanc but said nothing.

He could have killed both deadly grimm now with the Opticor, but he knew it was important for them to have these battles to solidify their teams. Distracted by the fleeing huntresses-in-training, the grimm failed to notice him as he quietly ran behind the group as they fled, hiding to wait until the battle was over, but pulling the Opticor in case something had changed because of his interference.

Fortunately, the battles went well, though he'd almost fired when the deathstalker had thrown Ren into a stone pillar, and when it looked like the nevermore was going to swallow Yang. The battles had been spectacular to watch, brutal in their violence but skillful movements and resourcefulness had let them fell both monsters. Yang yelled across the chasm "Where's Blanc?"

Jaune's group looked around, shrugging their shoulders. "You've got to find him guys, we can't leave him behind." She yelled again. As they began to search, he knew the timeline was changing because of his interference. Their worrying for him drew a pack large pack of beowolves to them, now with half their number stuck at the cliff face and climbing. He lined up a shot and fired, blasting three of the wolf-like creatures into giblets as Pyrrha and Nora began to fire into the crowd. Ren's aura was probably exhausted from hitting the pillar, so after Blanc's second shot, killing to more of the foul beings, he dropped the canon, drew his tonfas and charged to support Jaune.

Jaune appeared to know how to use the shield to block strikes but not deflect them, and he couldn't effectively swing his sword and block at the same time, leading to a stalemate with the beowolf he was fighting. Unfortunately, two more were coming up on his sides, causing Jaune to begin to falter. Pyrrha struck, shooting the one on Jaune's right, but Nora's fire was further back into the crowd. Fortunately, Blanc arrived, sliding on a glyph low under the beowolfs' strikes and slashing up with his elbows, the elongated tonfa blades cutting into their sides and ripping out the back and he continued through, using another glyph to change direction, lifting up in the air, spinning and slashing downward with the tonfas now extended, stabbing a grimm in both shoulders and throwing it back into a companion with a flip. Pink fire blasted to his right, taking out a grimm that was flanking Blanc, and he silently thanked Nora in his head while proceeding to slash his way into the flank of a grimm on his left.

Heartened and now hopeful, the negative emotions drawing the grimm to the group disappeared and the repelling force of their hope and faith began to chase the grimm away, especially as the remaining beowolves were now outnumbered by the group of hunters. As Lie Ren recovered and began firing into the retreating backs of the creatures, Blanc slipped his tonfa back into his duster and proceeded to Jaune, who was looking at Blanc in awe. Blanc stretched out his hand to him, and Jaune grasped it as Blanc pulled him in to slap his back. "Well done. I'm Blanc."

"Jaune, and my beautiful partner there is Pyrrha. And they are…"

Nora suddenly appeared between them both. "He's Ren and I'm…" she shouted but was interrupted by Ren.

"Ren. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Blanc made a slight bow, then stepped over to Pyrrha "My lady." He bowed and then rose. "Thank you for waiting for me. I got a bit lost on the way back and just caught the end of your battle. If you'll allow me to retrieve my weapon, I'd be happy to join you in finding a way back."

They walked with him to pick up the Opticor. Nora looked extremely excited, but it was Pyrrha who spoke first. "What sort of weapon is that?"

"I call it an Opticor. It's a dust-powered heavy plasma projector."

Jaune cocked his head and responded "What?"

"An energy canon."

Pyrrha spoke again. "That's the most powerful weapon I've ever seen a single person carry, but it looks unwieldy. You can use that in a fight?"

"Only at range. It's too heavy and large to swing around and knock strikes away, though it is sturdy enough to survive it. It's intended to be used against armored targets at a distance. I have to keep dropping it for close quarters."

"Yes, you seem extremely adept at using those. Perhaps we could spar?" Jaune looked a little queasy at the idea, but Blanc responded. "Why don't we talk about it later, once we've returned. I'd appreciate the workout, but it seems as though I didn't find a partner, so I don't know if that disqualifies me."

"Didn't you pick up a piece at the temple? I really don't want to walk back there." Jaune replied, Ren nodding in agreement.

"I did. A black pawn."

"A what?"

Blanc looked at Jaune, mystified. "Have you never played chess? And I thought I had a deprived childhood."

Jaune looked sheepish, but they set off together at Jaune's direction, vigilant for grimm while looking for a way back. After about a kilometer they happened upon another bridge, this one sturdier and in better condition, and a stairway back up to the top of the cliff. The large man in full armor and three others were with him. Cardin, Blanc believed his name was. At the bridge, the group began to chatter excitedly, Pyrrha admiring Jaune, Nora loudly squealing in joy while hugging Ren, and Blanc bringing up the rear, Opticor drawn and ready.

Soon enough they were up the stairs and ready to head back to the locker room to get cleaned up. Blanc noticed Goodwitch off to the side and told the others he'd meet up with them later. He peeled off to speak with her.

"How'd it go? Everything still according to you plan?" Gramma Glynda was not happy.

"I had to get more involved when they turned around to search for me, but otherwise yes. Same pairings, same teams, I'm certain, and same admirations. I think we avoided disaster."

Glynda looked at him sadly. "If you succeed, not only will you die, but you'll never have been born, either."

"I know. It doesn't matter." Goodwitch grew angry at that. "How can you value your own life so little?"

"I was a mistake. The product of a passionate moment between two people who loved other people but couldn't have them at the time. Now I'm a weapon; a correction for what would happen but wasn't supposed to be - what we can't let be. I've spent my whole life knowing this, training for this."

"Life doesn't have to be that. You can be more than just a pawn in their game."

Blanc looked at her. "So that was your influence then? Fitting. I'm afraid I can't. Nikos must have this power I took, and I must give it away, and I can only do that in death."

"Suicide. You're so blasé about it. It doesn't have to be a foregone conclusion."

"Look. We were close for the brief time I knew you before, but you didn't have to live my life and you've no idea what I really went through to get here. So I want you to understand this. I do not want this life. My reward for finally accomplishing my mission is to finally rest in peace. I don't want to find another way; I don't want this burden or the pain it causes. Let me make my own choices. This part of the plan was always mine."

"And how did your mother feel about it." Blanc was incensed. "Don't speak to me about my mother. She didn't care then and she wouldn't care now. You have these assumptions in your head that my childhood resembled anything like what you've experienced, but we were always on the ragged edge of extinction. I knew virtually nothing but training, pain, and horror for so long that all I want is oblivion. Stop trying to talk me out of this."

Goodwitch said nothing, marching off and dropping her head. Blanc could just pick out the falling tears on her face when she looked back, once, before leaving him alone, there at the cliff, the sun setting at his back and the wind whipping his armored coat to the side, showing a hanging tonfa.


	5. Chapter 5

**That evening in the meeting hall**

Blanc stared up at the sky, looking at the shattered moon. He'd always wondered what caused it but never found out. Maybe Ozpin new, or that hyperactive history teacher his aunts would tell him stories about, with a flamethrower coffee thermos. He stepped into the hall to see all of the upper classmen there, with the other first-year students at the front waiting to go onto the stage.

First were the group he didn't meet, now called team Cardinal. Black bishop pieces. Next, his father's group, who'd picked the white rook pieces. White? They were golden colored. Blanc sighed and waited. Next, his aunt Ruby's team, team Ruby, spelled with a w. White knights. Finally, he walked onto the stage alone.

"And finally, an unprecedented event in the history of Beacon academy. Retrieving the black pawn, Blanc Arc." Jaune looked over at him, wide eyed and shocked, as did most of the crowd.

"Damn it all, Ozpin. You said you could be discrete!" Ozpin stepped forward to murmur into Blanc's ear. "You already have a reason to die. You need a reason to live. If your mother is who I think she is, you were no doubt told to confide in them for their help and support, and also to put you off this self-destructive path."

Blanc replied in a hissed whisper "It's not your choice. It's mine. Why do you get to choose for me? This is how you make me your pawn? Well fuck you, I'm not playing." Blanc spun on his heel, and began marching back out. No one was stopping him, shocked as they were, but he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, wait a second."

It was Jaune. "Fucking great. What?"

"How do you have that name? There aren't many of us left and I know them all."

"It's my name. I got it at birth. I don't owe you my story; we have never met before the forest today. Let. Me. Go."

Jaune released him, and Blanc threw open the door and marched into the night, his duster fluttering in the sudden wind as everyone stared after him. Jaune did nothing, his hand in the air reaching for the other man, before dropping to his side, his head hanging, as Pyrrha came up to him to offer support.

 **Late that evening, in Blanc's dorm**

"Mr. Arc. I wasn't sure if I'd still find you here." Ozpin had unlocked his door and entered without knocking. Blanc was using the nanolathe, making what looked like a pair of greaves.

"You're an ass. What did you think you were doing? Now the entire school knows something is going on. You said you would be discrete."

Ozpin didn't look shocked at Blanc's anger. "School gossip is usually quick to be replaced, and despite the name relation, I believe the only people you'll need to be concerned with are teams Ruby and Juniper."

"He's already wondering how we're related."

"It will be good for you to have some attachments to the people around you. A reason to fight, a reason to live." Blanc glared at the professor. "It's not your choice to make. Even here, there is always someone trying to control me, to make me their pawn."

Ozpin looked sheepish. "That was not our intended message, we just wanted you to …"

"You wanted to tell me you knew better than I did about myself. To put me on the path of your choosing. Maybe you're right, but if you can't respect my secrets, my decisions, why would you expect me to respect yours."

"Mr. Arc, …" Blanc interrupted him. "You can see yourself out. Now not only do I have to figure out how to accomplish my original goals, but I have to figure out how to deal with your intentional blunder and avoid Cinder finding out about it."

"Did you say Cinder? Cinder Fall?" Ozpin was startled and stepped forward, looking unsure for the first time.

"I take it you know her already? Who is she to you?"

"That is my concern Mr. Arc." Blanc turned to glare at the headmaster. "Are you fucking kidding me? Reveal my secrets in front of a hundred people, but keep your own hidden, even when they're pertinent to the mission? Get out."

"Now, Mr. Arc…"

"I said get the fuck out, before I throw you out, or toss you somewhere in time and space, you insufferable ass." Blanc let the maiden power flare in his eyes, and Ozpin reluctantly backed out, shutting the door behind him.

Blanc was already struggling with how much to interfere; he could train Jaune, but he was told that time was part of the reason his father and Pyrrha fell in love, and thus part of the mission. He could train Pyrrha, but that might risk her falling for him instead of his father. Training team Ruby meant training Weiss, and his plan was already coming apart at the seams. Ozpin had really screwed the pooch on this one. Admittedly, Weiss was the person most likely to gain the most from training with him, though he knew many of the techniques team Ruby would develop in the future, excepting Blake. He was also an expert at using the longsword, and had a great deal to offer both Jaune and Pyrrha, and from what he'd heard about her, a great deal he could learn as well.

But now all of that would come with questions about who he was and how they were connected. Revealing his heritage would reveal his past, and aspects of it he didn't want to discuss with anyone. Damn Ozpin. Blanc figured he was probably sleeping with Goodwitch, and this was yet more interference from her. Ah well, he did have a soft spot for her; the closest thing he ever had to a grandmother. And part of him couldn't wait to spend more time with his aunt Ruby, who'd been the mother he should have had rather than the mother he actually did. His father made him cringe, and Pyrrha and Yang, well, they made him erect, and that was going to be an issue. Blanc began ranting to himself.

"You stupid ass. What am I supposed to say? Oh hey, Jaune. I'm your son from the future you never got to meet because you died before I was born. I'm here to make sure the woman you really love doesn't die, and die in her place. Can we be pals so I can make you not so pathetic?"

"Were you speaking to someone?"

Blanc looked up at the ceiling, cursing his luck. "Damn Ozpin. He left the fucking door unlocked. Do you people ever knock?" He turned to see Pyrrha Nikos at the door. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Well, um… everything? Are you really from the future, and you're… Jaune's son?"

"Fucking… you can't be in love with him already, can you? You just met a few days ago. For fucks sake!" Blanc was beginning to rant. "I'm sorry if I'm cursing too much for your delicate ears, but what the flying fuck are you doing here? People just coming into my space, telling me what to do, making decisions for me and you're here to what, scout me out for Jaune?"

"Well, um… I can go. I just wanted to make sure you were ok." She looked sheepish and… Blanc's eyes widened. "Oh no, No no no no. This cannot be happening. You cannot be interested in me."

Pyrrha stopped, turned her head, and looked up at him, her eyes now tight with anger. "And just who are you to tell me who I can be interested in or not?" Blanc sighed.

"Friendship is all I can offer you. I'm sorry."

"Well, you're very full of yourself. You were right the first time; I'm interested in Jaune. Though you do bear a striking physical resemblance once I look past the skin tone and your hair color… which looks quite white and… you're Schnee's son?"

"Not who you're thinking. Winter, not Weiss." Blanc blurted out.

"Is that her sister?" Blanc nodded. "And she… with Jaune?"

"Later, after your death." She gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth as shocked tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "The future is a terrible thing, Pyrrha Nikos, full of death and destruction. This isn't how this was supposed to work. I had a … plan, a plan for how to make the changes necessary and interfere as little as possible. A plan that ends with you and my father together, and the world not coming to an end."

"The world depends on me loving Jaune?" The tears stopped.

"Well, I don't know about that, but it depends on you, and I think, in a way, you will depend on him, and he on you. He never really got over you. I never got to meet him; like I said, he died before I was born, but the man that was described to me is nothing like the man he is now, and I think that change is because of you."

"Well, I… what would you have me do?"

Blanc looked at her. "You believe me, just like that? No tests, no questions, just willing to set aside your will and act out mine instead?"

She looked at him determinedly. "I didn't say that. I merely asked what you would have me do. I'll agree or I won't, based on my own decisions."

"Well met, then. I would ask you to help Jaune. To train with me. To help me train the others and prepare. To help keep my secrets, especially that I'm from the future."

"But, Jaune…" She replied, worriedly. "I'm not sure it's a good idea for me to be keeping secrets from him. He is my… team leader."

"Look, I think it's absurd that you feel the way you do about him having only just met him and worked with him for a short time, but you feel how you do. I guess I'll have to tell him now, at least some of it. I don't want to tell him who my mother is but I might have to; what I want to make sure is he doesn't feel trapped into that relationship to make sure I'm born. That needs to not happen."

"But, don't you want to be born? Wouldn't it cause some sort of time… thingy if you aren't?"

Blanc prepared another brief lecture on the true nature of time travel. "Actually, no, it won't. The instant I go back in time I become a completely independent object in time. It doesn't matter if I'm born again; I'll still exist as me. And frankly, with my life, no, I don't want to be born again."

She looked at him. "You're a very sad person. I can see the strength of Jaune's soul in your aura, but yours is so much darker, tainted with regret and despair. I see your determination, but you have no hope."

"Pyrrha, you let me worry about me. Help me do this; help me save the world, and give you and my father the happy, loving relationship you both deserve, with each other. If this works out, you all come out happy; your whole team, team Ruby, everyone that matters."

"And you? You don't matter?"

"Only in so far as I get the job done. Please, don't be like Ozpin, second guessing my decisions about my life and putting me in a position like he did today, with the plan in tatters and the fate of humanity in the balance. It's going to be hard enough to put this back together as is, and I need you."

"All right. I'll help you, but I won't keep this secret from Jaune. Either you tell him, or I will."

Blanc sighed, turned his back to her and looked out the window, staring at the shattered moon; shattered like his plans, his heart, his soul. "Fine. The next time I can get him alone. You know he's likely to have an anxiety attack over this. Hi dad, I'm your 18-year-old son from the future. I want you to choose a better mom in this redhead over here, and learn not to be a loser."

"Blanc. What a horrible thing to say about your father. And your mother, to be honest."

"It's the truth. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really need to finish this work and figure out how to break it to my father that he's a father without ever having had sex."

"Jaune is still a virgin?" She exclaimed, proverbial hearts in her eyes.

"For fucks sake, get out."


	6. Chapter 6

**The first day of classes, Professor Port's class**

Port's stories were boring. He seemed like a competent hunter, but he wasn't really teaching anything. It was like listening to one of aunt Yang's exaggerated stories. Blanc had trouble concentrating. He could see some sort of drama starting between Ruby and Weiss, resulting in Weiss getting herself called down to fight a Boarbatusk. Despite their relative size, the boar-like grimm were extremely dangerous due to their speed and the sharp tusks. Weiss didn't really struggle against it, but there was definitely strife in team RWBY.

He'd expected Pyrrha's attention to be focused on Jaune or the fight with the grimm, but she seemed to have slipped into her own world. Blanc imagined being told you were going to die in less than a year unless something changed would do that for most people. He'd spent his entire life knowing that he had an expiration date; a single moment in time that held the entire purpose of his life. Perhaps introspection wasn't far from him either.

Class dismissed. Blanc was certain Ruby and Weiss would work out their problems. JNPR walked off together, a smile on Pyrhha and Jaune's faces, as well as their teammates Nora and Lie Ren, so he assumed things would be ok, and none of them looked back at him once.

Unfortunately, Cardin Winchester, the large man he'd seen in a full suit of armor in the forest, decided to make his presence known. "Arc, huh, like the runt? You two cousins?" Blanc walked off without acknowledging the man.

Cardin was a bully; Blanc could sense that. He doubted the man would survive the fall of Beacon. He'd never heard the name before, but Blanc wasn't here to solve every problem at the school. "Hey, I'm talking to you, Arc."

Blanc stopped. "Do I look like I give a shit? Back off." It was like waving red aura in front of a Boarbatusk; Cardin stepped up to him and attacked him with a wide haymaker. Blanc's dilation glyph appeared, and Cardin's movement slowed. Blanc casually stepped to the side; Cardin's eyes widened and then Blanc grabbed his arm, releasing the glyph and twisting the beefy arm behind the bully's back, pulling up on it and locking it into place as he bent Cardin forward, smashing his face into the desk.

Blanc spoke to them all, but particularly Cardin's teammates who looked ready to intervene. "I'll break his damn arm and put him in the hospital, and do the same to you. Grow up and learn your lesson. Next time someone might kill you." It wasn't true; not at Beacon anyway, but Cardin and his team were on a path to getting seriously hurt, and Blanc wasn't a very tolerate man.

"Okay, Okay… fuck, can you let up already?"

Blanc let him go, stepping back and away before the large man could recover. No one else saw the altercation, Port having stepped outside, but Blanc wasn't really sure Cardin was smart enough to learn from this. He left the room, passing Ozpin talking with Ruby, but he kept moving. It was time to find Jaune and get his confession over with, before Pyrrha did it for him.

He checked the dining hall, what he would have called a mess growing up. A bit too early, he proceeded to the training pavilion. The pavilion was a multi-use facility, with both indoor and outdoor arenas, practice dummies, and holographic simulators. Many students were there, training and socializing, but he didn't see the group he was seeking. Blanc saw no one from RWBY or JNPR so he headed inside.

The air was noticeably cooler inside. Shouts, clashing metal, sparing fighters and the occasion sound of gunfire rang as he walked through, checking the individual training rooms. He didn't find Jaune, but he did find Ruby, working through a beowolf simulation. She started off thrusting forward, gunshot behind her to propel her forward, turning into a horizontal spinning slash and catching two of the holograms. A deft spin behind her back brought the gun forward to fire on a third, pushing her back from a strike and destroying the target. A vertical slice, point into the ground, she then spun around, kicking a hologram, then sliding on her knees and sweeping the two remaining targets with the other point of the scythe and catching them with the blade on the return swing. A final shot cleared the simulation, all in about 30 seconds.

Blanc was suitably impressed; she was fast and sure of herself. He clapped appreciatively, so she turned toward him then gave him a bright smile, reminding him of when he used to finish training and she'd smile at him and give him a cookie. "Oh hey, uh… Blanc. I was just practicing."

"Seems like you might have this one figured out. Well done; that was quiet a spectacle."

Ruby grinned. "I may have done this one a few times since I got here. Did you come to train?"

Blanc looked around quickly. "Actually, I'm looking for Jaune. Have you seen him?

Ruby thought for a second, then replied "Well, we have a free period after lunch but then team training, so maybe he's at lunch, or went back to his room to change?"

"Thanks. Can you tell me how to get to his room? I already looked in the dining hall." Ruby quickly gave him directions; Jaune's teams rooms were across from her own team's, so she knew where to send him. "I'll walk back with you. I think I'm done anyway."

They walked together toward a different dorm complex than the one Blanc was in. Ruby was quiet, seemingly distracted and anxious. "You ok Ruby? You look like something's bothering you."

"Well, it's Weiss. She doesn't seem to have any confidence in me to lead our team. I talked to professor Ozpin and he seemed supportive, but I'm not sure how to handle her." Blanc turned his head while they walked to look at her. "I think Weiss' issue is her ego. She thinks she should have been the leader, right?" Ruby turned to face him, gave a slight nod, then turned back and looked at the ground.

"Weiss isn't any more experienced at this than you; Ozpin chose you for a reason. She'll come around."

Ruby looked skeptical but let it pass. "So, what is it you need to tell Jaune that you couldn't tell him over a scroll?" Blanc glimpsed over at her without turning his head, but then kept walking. "Oh, come on. You can tell me."

"Ruby, honestly, I wish I could, but I don't really even want to tell him. I feel like I'm being forced."

"This is about what Professor Ozpin said. About your name? What, are you his secret brother or something?"

"Something. Ruby, please. This needs to stay quiet. I could kill Ozpin for spilling it."

Ruby looked at him quizzically "That seems a bit extreme. What, is the fate of the world riding on it?" She joked, but he wasn't laughing. "Ruby, some secrets are secret for a reason. It wasn't Ozpins story to tell or to force me to tell. Now everything is going to go pear shaped."

"How can it be that bad? Blanc… I know we don't know each other well, but you can talk to me."

Blanc stopped, and reached out, touching Ruby's shoulder. His aura, bright white like Jaune's, flared, touching Ruby and making her glow bright red. "We know each other better than you know. In your soul you can feel it, can't you? That familiarity you don't think should exist, but does? We knew each other well, in another life. Trust me Ruby, I want to tell you… tell you so much, but I can't." He let his aura fade, hers with it. Ruby turned angry.

"Who. Are. YOU!? You… you seem like you know me so well but I never met you before. And you're right, I can feel it, but … who are you, really?" She began to cry in frustration, her feelings confused.

"Ruby, please. You… you know who I am. When the time is right, you'll know." Blanc paused, then returned to her. "I need to go and get this done with while I still have the nerve. Ruby, it'll be ok." He gave her a bright grin, like he'd done when his aunt Ruby had worried about the blood on his knuckles and the bruises on his chest as a young boy. "That's why I'm here, to set it all right again."

"What?"

But it was too late. He strode off, leaving her behind. In her mind, she'd seen a flash of a young boy, covered in bloody wounds with Blanc's false grin, reassuring her. Before she could stop him, he was gone, though she knew where he was going, and quickly followed.

It didn't take long to find him. He was just inside the doors, sheepishly rubbing his neck. "I uhhh… still don't know where to find the room." Ruby gave up and asked him no more, simply taking him to JNPR's room and going into her own, the image still strong in her mind.


	7. Chapter 7

**Team JNPR's Room**

Blanc hesitated, fist raised to knock. This was going to change everything, break everything. He started to turn, avoid the problem, but stopped and rapped on the door. He'd never run from a problem his whole life, always facing the hard choices and the painful truths. Truths he didn't want to accept but couldn't avoid. Love was sacrifice, power was taken, choice was an illusion. Death was inevitable. And absolutely everything hurt, in the end.

The door opened a few seconds later, the violet eyes of Lie Ren peering at him. Blanc hadn't known Ren or his partner Nora well; like so many, they fell trying to hold back Salem's wrath. They were the last of his father's team, but they'd grown close to Ruby when she'd join them and Jaune on their trip to avenge Pyrrha. She'd been able to tell him stories, humorous and uplifting about his father's friends, but they never seemed all that important, small anecdotes as she remembered them. He knew they were competent; Ren was patient and observant, Nora powerful and passionate.

"Hello. I imagine you're here to see Jaune; please come in." Ren stepped to the side, allowing Blanc inside. "Nora, I think we should head out to get some food."

"Pancakes?" Nora exclaimed excitedly. "I think it's lunch time Nora... We can ask."

"YEAH!" Nora grabbed Ren, dragging him out the door. Blanc shut the door behind them, then turned around. Pyrrha was waiting on her bed while Jaune was putting on his armor. He looked at Blanc, his chestguard not completely latched. "Hey. We were just going to do some training together. We had lunch earlier."

Blanc sighed. "I came to talk. Can you give me some of your time?" Pyrrha got up and began to excuse herself.

Jaune stopped her, grabbing her hand and pulled her back. "After last night, anything you want to say to me, you can say with her too."

"Why, what happened last night?" Blanc turned to Pyrrha. "You move fast. What changed?"

Pyrrha stammered and blushed. "No… nothing changed like that." She did sit back down, however.

Jaune looked frustrated. "That's not what I meant. I meant how you acted." Blanc grew angry.

"You… you think I owe you an apology because you were prying into my privacy? You know what ..." Pyrrha interrupted him, sternly saying "Blanc. I'll tell him if you don't."

"Wait, he already told you? You told her first?" Jaune got up, beginning to pace. "So even when it's about me I don't matter?"

"It's not about you… well not really. It's about me. And I didn't tell her anything, she overheard it when she came to talk to me about you. So don't get huffy with her, or even with me. I wouldn't be telling you now if she wasn't forcing me." Blanc glared at the girl, but Jaune's look was startled, then grateful, and earned a blush and a beaming smile in return.

"Oh, for fucks sake, really?" Jaune was shocked at Blanc's language, his mouth hanging open.

Blanc rolled his eyes. "Well, you're as naïve as expected." He gestured for Jaune to sit, waited, then sighed and began.

"This is going to sound cliché, like the plot of a bad novel. I'm here because everything goes wrong this year. I know it all seems innocent enough right now; I know you have your worries, though from my perspective they're pretty pedestrian. Cardin is a bully, your transcripts are faked, you…"

"You… you know?"

"Yes, I know. I know a lot of things. I know because you told Ruby, and she told me."

Jaune's eyes were wide. "I… I haven't told anyone, certainly not Ruby."

Blanc looked out the window behind Jaune's bed. "You haven't told her yet. You will; or you will if I don't change things."

Pyrrha interjected "And how do you know that, Blanc Arc?" She was putting him back on track, but he resented her for it.

"Jaune… I'm a traveler, from the future. I need your help; everyone's help really, but I don't know many people who I can trust. I… a disaster at the end of the Vytal Festival. Beacon falls, and Vale soon after. By the time I left, humanity was losing its final stand. If you don't help me change those events, everything ends."

"I… I don't know how I can help. I don't even really belong here… I… why do you need my help?"

Pyrrha turned from Jaune back to Blanc. "Tell him. You told me you would."

"Well, in all honestly I need her help. It all balances on her, but she needs you. So I need you." Blanc said, avoiding the answer she wanted him to say.

Jaune looked up at him from the floor. "Wait, Blanc Arc… you're from the future? We… are you mine?"

It was Blanc turn to be shocked, but he recovered quickly. "Yes."

He looked over at Pyrrha. "With… with you?" He seemed hopeful, only for her to deny him.

"No, Jaune. With Weiss's sister."

"But, why? I don't even know her and… I'm so confused."

Blanc spoke up. "I knew you would be, which is why I tried to keep this a secret from you. If we fail… if we fail, she dies." Blanc was pointing at Pyrrha.

"NO. I'll never let that happen! I… I'd never fail a teammate like that. You're lying!"

Blanc was struck by empathy for his father for the first time. "You'll try, but it won't be enough. But, together, we can change that."

Jaune's look turned dark, and he looked Blanc right in the eye. "So, what is it you want then? What are we supposed to do, Mr. Doom and gloom?"

"Jaune, hear him out."

Blanc tried to stay patient. "Train. Train with me, with Pyrrha. After Pyrrha fell, you became a great warrior. Eventually, you avenge her. You give your life, saving my mother and aunt Ruby. I can help you become that man in time to help. Help Pyrrha be ready for what she has to do before our enemy is ready. Help the others prepare for what's coming, even if we succeed."

"And what's coming, exactly?"

Blanc reigned in his rising anger. "War. A war that either ends in victory or the extermination of every human and faunus in Remnant. None of you are ready; none of you see the rising danger. We don't have the time to left to let you improve on your own. Will you work with me? With Pyrrha?"

Jaune was quiet for a while, then asked Pyrrha "You believe him?"

"I told him I would help him, if he told you the truth about who he was. And I will. I don't think we have a choice, do we?"

Blanc got Jaune's attention. "What do you need from me to believe me? We need to keep this as quiet as possible; not everyone here is who they seem and we can't afford to have our enemies know I'm here and change their plans."

"They know about you?" Jaune whisper-shouted.

"Not yet, and I don't want them to until it's too late. The more they know, they more likely they change their plans and the less useful my knowledge of what happens will be. So we keep it quiet. I have to tell you as little as I can get away with, but I need your team and team Ruby to work with me. And, I need something else."

Now Pyrrha looked suspicious. "And what, exactly, is that?"

"Blake. I don't know what happened to her after the battle of Beacon. She has suspicious connections that may mean she's a traitor or a spy."

Jaune was angry. "You don't even know her. How can you say that?"

"You need to think about what's on the line here, father." He'd said it intentionally to shock Jaune and shut down his rising anger, but it didn't work very well. "She may not be; that's what I need help with. I need to make sure she's ok, or remove her if she's not."

"You want us to kill Blake? Are you crazy?" Jaune looked like he was about to attack him.

"Did I say that? I need to know if she can be trusted. If she can't, we need to get her away; limit the damage she can do by limiting how much she knows. If she's one of them, if she suddenly disappears their plans will change in response."

Pyrrha responded. "And pray tell, what do we do about that?"

"There's nothing for it. We'll have to spy on her. We need to know who she's meeting with, what she's saying. Otherwise, I don't know. She was white fang."

"The terrorist group?" Now Jaune wasn't as angry about worrying about his friend. "That would mean… she's a faunus?"

"A cat faunus, to be precise. She uses that bow on her head to hide the ears. Supposedly she broke from them over what they became, at least that's what aunt Yang told me, but they would never speak much about her, couldn't or wouldn't tell me what happened to her… they only talked about her in hushed whispers when they thought I couldn't hear or when aunt Yang got too drunk, and I couldn't learn much about it."

Pyrrha looked at him and said "I'd think they would have thought it important to specify how trustworthy she is to you when you were making this plan of yours."

"You'd think, right? I don't know. Maybe they didn't know, or couldn't be certain. Maybe there was some other reason they wouldn't talk about her other than betrayal. That's why I'm saying I need your help checking her out. "

Jaune hated the idea of spying on his friends. "Why don't we just ask her?" Even Pyrrha looked at him like he was a dunce. "Right, stupid question. I just hate this."

"War requires lots of things we hate. That's something else you're going to have to learn."

Jaune replied "Okay, when do we start?" Blanc reached over and finished buckling Jaune's armor for him. "This afternoon. No time like the present. I need to get some food, then I'll suit up and meet you at the training hall."

"Couldn't we do it somewhere, I don't know, more private?"

Before Blanc could respond, Pyrrha interrupted. "I know just the place."

 **Dorm roof, an hour later**

"This isn't going to work."

Pyrrha looked shocked. "Why not? It's open, available, and no one is here to observe us."

Blanc looked at her, then yelled "Cardin. Come on up."

Cardin sheepishly pulled himself up. Without looking, Blanc said "Ok, thanks. That's enough." Cardin ducked back down.

"I… I see. What do you suggest?"

Blanc looked at her, then Jaune, then up at Ozpin's office in Beacon's tower. "I'll talk to the headmaster tomorrow about something."


	8. Chapter 8

**16 years after the fall of Beacon, Forever Fall forest**

Mercury was running; he'd been running since they killed Cinder. He still had trouble believing it, almost 14 years after he'd seen it happen. Arc, burning all over, jamming that damn sword he'd always carried, glowing white, right through her chest like paper. Cinder thought the fall maiden's powers would make her invincible, but the woman with the scythe had kept them at bay while their precious white knight took his revenge. The power had shot to the girl in the short white dress, and Mercury had decided the tables had turned.

Now, Mercury was just tired; older and exhausted. Grimm everywhere; he was no longer protected from them the way Cinder had been able to protect him. Assaulted on all fronts. Hiding around Vale and the old Beacon academy had worked after they'd killed that huge grimm dragon, but you didn't live this long on the run and not know when someone was on your tail.

A twig snapped, not far, back and to his left, and Mercury kicked to fire a shot in that direction, and then, nothing but pain. A kid, barely a teenager, dropped from the trees and cut his leg off. Some kind of polished black blade with glowing etchings going along the side of his arm. Mercury put his other leg down and tried to push away, but the kid swept up with his other arm and took that leg off too.

"Ahhhh, fuck!" Mercury began to moan and whimper, blood pouring from the wounds at the stumps where he'd been dismembered.

The boy leaned down, blue eyes, white hair, but now that Mercury saw him, a copy of the stupid white knight in the wrong colors. "This is for Ruby Rose, you piece of shit." Then the boy jammed the short bladed end pointing out from his fist into Mercury's lower jaw, into his brain, and Mercury knew no more.

 **Nearly 17 years earlier, Blanc's rooms at Beacon Academy**

Blanc woke up in a sweat. He never really dreamed; he only remembered. Sometimes in pieces, sometimes mixing the memories, but he'd not had a real dream since he was very small. It wasn't really a nightmare, per say, and Blanc didn't regret what he'd done. He regretted that he'd been forced to do it.

Blanc had killed before then, but unlike those, Mercury was a sad man, old before his time, worn out mechanical legs, and all he'd been doing is hiding and living in constant fear. It was probably a mercy of a sort, he supposed. No, Blanc didn't regret tracking down and killing Mercury, as unnecessary as it might have been. He regretted that it led to his capture, and all that happened afterward.

It was too early to contact Ozpin about a place to train with the others, so he got up and continued his work on the armor he'd been making. The greaves were finished; he'd just need to weave the dust into the glyphs embedded inside them. The gauntlets were more complex with so many moving joints, but they wouldn't have the dust weaving of the greaves or bracers.

He'd experimented with some of this using his coat, proven that the woven glyphs worked, and he may as well use his time more productively then dwell on future-past mistakes that hopefully could never occur. Working the lathe helped him keep his mind off the tasks to come, how much he had to keep to himself, and how much he had to share, and the ultimate brutality of what the needs of the many required from so few.

His hands were shaking… so much blood. He'd killed so many, grimm, white fang, traitors, and it hadn't been enough. So many innocents he couldn't protect. All he had left was the plan; the final chance at turning the tide. He swept the greaves off the table and wept.

Despite what Blanc had thought, it wouldn't have been too late to contact Ozpin, who was watching the young man weeping in quiet despair.

 **Beacon Dining Hall**

Blanc had gone to Ozpin in the morning and secured a private training room in Beacon's tower. In truth, it was an old storage room that they'd need to clear out first. Blanc suspected Ozpin had needed the room cleared anyway and was using their labor to do it, but it was what they needed and the could be assured of privacy there, as Ozpin had restricted access to the floor for them to professors and Blanc himself. Blanc would need to add additional names to that list as he began training more of teams JNPR and RWBY.

So he sat in the dining hall, waiting on Pyrrha and Jaune. Ruby entered and picked up a tray; then proceeded to where Blanc sat. "Oh hey, mind if I join you?"

Blanc waved his hand across the table to her at the seat, offering it to her, and she happily took it. "You're up early, Ruby."

"I couldn't sleep very well. What you said yesterday… it bothered me. I kept wondering why I knew you so well; who are you, really? I know, you won't tell me but it's kind of creepy." Blanc raised his eyebrow but said nothing. "Well, ok not creepy but disturbing. And then you're here, like you're waiting on me. Are you stalking me?"

"I wasn't aware there was another dining hall at Beacon, but the truth is I'm waiting on Pyrrha and Jaune."

"Again?" Ruby set her fork down, leaving the eggs she'd been about to eat untouched for the moment. "You just had your super-secret conversation with them yesterday. I saw you guys go up to the roof. What's going on?!"

"Ruby… I… I want to tell you but now isn't the right time. There will be a right time, I promise. Besides, you won't really like it anyway. No one does."

"Why? What is so wrong with it? What's so bad about you; I mean sure you just kind of appeared out of nowhere and you have no team and you're pretty cute but weird and… did I say that out loud?"

Blanc just grinned. "I'm cute, huh?"

"Damn it. Stop that. Why do you think I won't like you when you tell me this secret of yours?"

He said nothing for a bit, opened his mouth to speak, then shut it. He looked down at his food, at hers, tried to speak again, then stopped. Finally, he sighed and said "Because it's the truth. And it's painful; all of it. The truth always hurts; you pull off the veneer of every day lies we tell ourselves to smooth over the rough edges that would scratch and cut, and this will be like ripping off the skin."

He stood up, half-finished breakfast tray in-hand. "I'm sorry, Ruby, but you're not ready and I'm not ready to tell you, and I'm not at the point where I don't yet have another choice." He saw Jaune and Pyrrha coming in, together, chatting, then Weiss and Blake, followed by a sleepy looking Yang. He stared a bit at her; so young, both arms, dressed rather casually and a bit provocatively for breakfast. Shaking his head, he apologized to Ruby, who'd noticed the direction of his stare and turned to see her friends entering. She waved to them, but when she turned back he had already left. He spoke with the blonde and the flame-haired duo and then departed, but he stopped at the door to look back. At first she thought he was looking at her, feeling herself blush, but then she saw he was staring past her, at the line to pick up breakfast, and at her sister Yang. Always stupid Yang. Ruby loved Yang, but boys always had eyes for her. When she turned back to look at him again, he was gone, as if he'd never been there, unnoticed by virtually everyone else. Like a ghost.

Ren and Nora soon entered, with Nora's antics brightening her mood. Weiss sat next to her, setting down a cup of coffee for Ruby, cream and five sugars. "Here you are, fearless leader."

"Thanks Weiss! You're the best."

Yang sat down, next to Blake and across from Ruby. "Saw you talking to Weiss's male clone. Boy's a stud. What'd he say to you?"

"He's kinda weird. Everything he says is cryptic and sad."

Jaune looked at Pyrrha, then looked away, down at his food, good mood forgotten for a moment. Ruby noticed Pyrrha's look of concern, but then Jaune looked up again, smile on his face, and began to eat. Ruby could tell he was faking it for the group.

Ruby spoke. "Jaune, what… what is he talking to you guys about?"

Pyrrha started to speak but Jaune spoke before she could. "He wants to train me… us really. Well, Pyrrha and I but I'm sure he'd be willing to train you too, if you want. I could ask?"

Blake looked skeptical. "Why? What kind of training? Why would you trust him?" Yang grinned and bumped her with her shoulder "'Cause he's hot. Am I right?" Blake just rolled her eyes. "I mean, I wouldn't toss him out of bed for eating crackers, if you know what I'm saying."

Ruby was frustrated. "Yang!"

Weiss interjected "He was at my house this summer, speaking with my father. They wouldn't talk around me, so I don't know what it was about. He was dressed like one of my father's workers, but I checked it out when he left; father gave him a lot of money, pulled strings with Professor Ozpin and sent him here. I want to know what's going on. He says he knows me… but I don't remember ever meeting him."

Ruby turned to her. "You too? He says he knows me but… we've never met. I mean, before now."

"Well, I wouldn't forget a body like that."

Blake looked over at Yang. "Really? He's okay but there are plenty of good looking guys here. What's with him?"

"I saw him that first night; tight night clothes. Kept his skin covered by you could see it pushing through his pants. And I mean, big."

"Yang!"

Yang didn't stop. "I mean, they say they get it from their fathers." Jaune started to blush and looked over to Pyrrha, who was cringing but also somewhat intrigued, and began to look down. "Pyrrha!"

Yang paid no attention. "I'm telling you, I'm going to get what's in there."

"Yang!" The rest of team RWBY didn't seem as amused. "Okay, I could just do puns then, you prudes."

They finished up their breakfasts, everyone feeling a bit awkward. Ruby because her sister was an oversexed pervert and not afraid to show it, Yang because she'd gone overboard with the innuendo and they all knew it, Blake and Weiss because other people had heard the conversation, and Jaune and Pyrrha because he'd caught her checking him out.

As the stepped out, there was a noticeable crowd in the courtyard outside. They moved around until they could see what was going on, and in the middle was an upper-class team, and surrounded in the middle, Blanc.


	9. Chapter 9

**Courtyard outside Beacon Dining Hall**

"You need to show some respect to your betters." Blanc said nothing in reply, standing in the middle, seeming to be relaxed. "Let's show the new guy some manners, boys." The four of them moved in, the one at Blanc's back looking to grab and hold him for the others. Blanc did nothing, then snapped into a spin, flinging his fist out and hitting the target behind him across the temple with his left fist, disorienting him. Blanc continued his spin, sweeping around again, lower this time, his trailing right foot sweeping out and pulling the boy off his feet. Blanc finished his spin back in the relaxed position he'd started in, facing the only one they'd seen speaking. As the two at his sides neared, the one on his left swung a haymaker while the boy on his right dropped to his knee and kicked at Blanc's waist. Blanc bent into a back walkover, the haymaker going high, the kick going underneath his back, then kicked his legs up, hitting the boy in front first with his left, then his right foot, and coming back up to his feet in the same relaxed pose. The fallen boy behind him reached for Blanc's leg, but he'd been anticipated. Blanc quickly raised his foot, then stamped his boot down on the boy's wrist. An audible crack was heard, then the crowd groaned as the boy screamed and then fainted from the pain.

"That's gotta hurt." Yang looked excited. "Kick their ass, Blanc." The crowd had begun to cheer the combatants. Unlike other schools, combat schools like Beacon academy often allowed their students to resolve their differences with force, so long as whatever damage was done was something easily healed by their Auras. Blanc went on the offensive as the attacker on his left came in high again, quick jabs that Blanc had danced to the side of. On the third jab, Blanc grabbed his wrist and pulled, setting him up for a knee to the diaphragm, pushing all the air out of him, followed by an elbow to his back when he'd stretched over Blanc's knee.

Blanc danced to the left, out of reach of a powerful hammer kick from another assailant, but reached out and pulled the kicking foot up, unbalancing the attacker and causing him to fall as Blanc stepped back into the kick, pushing up and back at him. Now the boy in front stepped into close quarters range and began to snap off rapid punches and kicks, clearly more skilled than his teammates. Blanc blocked, taking a hit in the chest or arm but avoiding anything to his head, seeming to wait. As the attacker tired, Blanc stepped back, causing the boy to step forward to get back into close range. Blanc repeated this twice more, each time waiting on the boy to step back into range. On the third such maneuver, when the boy was stepping up, Blanc kicked out, smashing into the side of the boy's knee, breaking it as the boy screamed and fell.

His attackers now all down, the crowd shocked and silent over how quick and brutal the bout had been, Blanc returned to his relaxed stance, then looking into the crowd, met the Ruby's eyes, and felt chastised at her horror. Looking back toward the loud-mouth who'd intentionally run into him as he was leaving, he signed. "Respect is earned." Then he turned to Jaune and Pyrrha, Jaune's mouth hanging open but new respect shown in the eyes of the woman he'd trained his entire life to impress. "I'll see you both this afternoon, right?" Not waiting for an answer, he walked off, leaving the crowd as staff from the clinic showed up to help the injured. The miracle of aura healing meant that they'd probably miss today's classes but be fine by the next morning.

Yang was practically drooling over the prospect of another brawler like herself. Ren appeared more introspective, having foreseen those moves but knowing he would have held back. Pyrrha had recognized the talent involved, how Blanc had baited them into particular positions at particular times; a planned attacked that merely looked reactive. Blake was already gone, Weiss not far behind.

Ruby looked at the injured boys as the clinic staff took them away on hovering stretchers, then at Yang, with worry. Yang had always been a bit boy-crazy, but this looked more like obsession. Whatever feelings Ruby had for this boy, they were not of a romantic nature, but clearly Yang's infatuation hadn't quite been as much of a joke as she'd been pretending. "Yang?"

"Yeah Ruby?" Yang turned to her younger sister, a grin on her face, and Ruby felt more assured. "Nothing. Let's get to class, okay?"

"Sure sis. Come on!" And they ran off together.

 **Goodwitch's Classroom**

"Aura is an extension, or manifestation, of your soul. It appears as a faint glow around your body, and in a power which we call semblance. This manifestation can be any number of things, but the color of your aura is usually associated with the color of dust which has a similar effect. This is not always the case, however, so if you've yet to discover your semblance, please see me after class. Similarly, if you've yet to unlock your aura."

Goodwitch's lectures were the best of all the professors so far, Blanc thought. It was information of which he was already aware, but compared to Port's rambling embellishments or Oobleck's caffeine driven history lessons, it was coherent and useful.

"As a demonstration, let's have a volunteer. Mr. Arc, if you would?" Jaune looked around, then shouted back "Me?" Glynda looked at him, then up to the back corner. "No, the other Mr. Arc, if you please?"

"I'll pass."

"Now, Mr. Arc." Gramma did not look happy. Blanc narrowed his eyes and made his way down to the stage. "Your aura, Mr. Arc. Would you please demonstrate?" Blanc sighed, then began to glow with a faint white outline.

Jaune looked at him, then turned to Pyrrha and whispered "Is it me or is that really weak looking?" She replied "It does appear to be very faint, but I suspect he's keeping it back. He probably has an aura much like your own, though I've never felt it."

"Mr. Arc, if you don't mind, please stop holding it back?"

Blanc rolled his eyes, sighed again in frustration, then allowed his Aura to fully form. The outline was now much brighter, not as strong as Jaune's but comparative. "Thank you Mr. Arc. Now, would you please demonstrate your semblance?"

Blanc turned to her, frowned, then replied "I respectfully decline." He began to walk off the stage. Goodwitch thought to call him back, but decided instead to call on Ruby, who promptly demonstrated her speed, flashing onto the stage in a curtain of rose petals. Blanc proceeded up, but returned to his seat rather than leaving like he really wanted. He was meeting Jaune and Pyrrha after this and there was no point in waiting for them there when he could simply leave with them from here.

The lesson then turned to auras gauged on their scroll, and how the aura could be used to heal wounds and block attacks. "Like a force field!" added Jaune. Goodwitch nodded and proceeded on with her lesson, but Blanc had tuned it out.

He was trying not to get noticed, but Goodwitch and Ozpin seemed dead set on bring him out at every turn. That altercation this morning had certainly gotten him noticed. He supposed going completely unremarked was, in and of itself, remarkable, but showing his semblance? Blanc also reflected on Jaune. From what he'd been told, Jaune didn't figure out his semblance until after the battle of Beacon, but there was no reason that couldn't change. He would have to get Jaune to keep it mostly under-wraps; it was a very rare semblance and would definitely draw attention to the young man who would have been his father.

Class ended without any matches, but Blanc knew they would begin soon. He'd have to plan what to do; throw the matches? Defeat them without using semblance or with the bit that matched his mother's? Certainly, he couldn't afford to show his father's semblance or his real specialty. None of the students here were amateurs at combat, save perhaps Jaune, but none besides perhaps Pyrrha had trained as long and hard as he had. Blanc decided he would have to rely on his martial skill, and maybe show a bit of his mother's simpler glyphs that he could copy.

He met with Jaune and Pyrrha, and saying their goodbyes to the rest of team JNPR, who were going to the library so Ren could look through a few texts and Nora could pester him while he did it, they headed off to the tower.

Jaune began. "So how are we going to start? Footwork? Maybe a bit of swordplay? I know, how about working on my aura and my semblance?"

Blanc said nothing for a moment, then replied "Well, first we'll be clearing the space. It's an old storage room full of junk that Ozpin wants moved out; we need the space and this is our offer." Jaune looked a bit down. Pyrrha, however, had a grin on her face, and began patting Jaune on the back. "There, there, a little manual labor won't hurt you."

Blanc looked over at her. "You just want him to get sweaty and take off his shirt."

Pyrrha blushed and began to stammer, and Jaune looked over between them. "Ha, bloody ha. Very funny." His mood did brighten, however, which despite Pyrrha's blush improved her mood as well. Blanc figured they should just get a room. He'd even offer up his own. Then he remembered her need to stay virginal, and kept quiet.


	10. Chapter 10

**Beacon Tower**

Access to the floor was restricted by scroll; Blanc used his to get them up the elevator to the right floor, and then showed them where Ozpin wanted the filing cabinets and other materials moved, and the space they'd need to clear to train, which was the large, mostly open room between the smaller rooms on the outside where they'd be moving the storage items too. Most of those rooms were mostly filled as well, but a few were fairly empty and there was certainly enough space to clear out the central area. Blanc and the others began to work. Pyrrha, feeling no need to hide her semblance, used her polarity to do most of the heavy lifting, making short work of it.

"Well, I'm surprised we're done this quickly. Thanks to you, Pyrrha, I think we have some time. Jaune, while I think we should work on your semblance, first I want to teach you some kata to work through for your shield and sword."

Jaune looked a bit puzzled. "Kata?"

"Martial art movements. Your shield is as much of a weapon as your sword, and your sword as much of a defense. The shield's edge, and bludgeoning capacity, how to parry with your blade effectively, that sort of thing. We'll go over the moves slowly, so you can practice them accurately and make them into habits, then speed them up so you can do the moves instinctively during combat."

Jaune said nothing, but drew his sword and expanded his shield. Blanc turned to Pyrrha. "Can I count on you to help him with these? I realize you don't really need this but he will."

Blanc picked up a mock shield and sword he'd made for training purposes, then proceeded to show Jaune how to use the shield to block correctly from various strikes, having Pyrrha show the strikes and why the blocks worked. He showed how to bash opponents with the shield to stun them, how to use the edge of the shield like a weapon or to disarm an opponent, and then, again using Pyrrha, showed Jaune how to use his sword to attack and to parry, where on the blade to strike, and briefly explained why it worked. "You want to hit the end of their blade with yours, but further up by your grip. The torque will twist their blade away and allow you to keep yours stable and move in." He then demonstrated on Pyrrha in slow motion, knocking the tip of Milo with the cross guard of his mock sword, which pushed Milo out of position even at that slow speed, and pulled the mock sword back into her now unprotected torso. "You should expect this sort of move from someone like Weiss or Winter. What you need to be careful of is that they don't strike your hand." Pyrrha rapped Blanc's knuckles, causing him to drop his mockup.

They then moved into the kata Blanc had prepared for Jaune, and even Pyrrha was impressed. She was used to using her semblance to aid her, but Blanc's kata flowed smoothly, one into the other, kicks and strikes, blocks with follow up attacks. Even Jaune could see how effective they'd be when sped up. "You need to learn these moves, but you need to vary them and eventually develop your own, or you'll become predictable, and that would make you exploitable." They practiced the kata more, with Blanc looking at Pyrrha's moves and sorting out how to do most of what she currently did using her semblance without, though some things simply couldn't be done, like her shield throw. The shield was too heavy and fell too quickly, and her semblance not only gave it power, but also accuracy and the ability to retrieve the shield without chasing it down. That said, it was obvious Blanc had learned to fight without using aura as an aid at all.

"And what is your semblance, Blanc?" Pyrrha was interested, not only in how much he'd inherited from his father, but in how he could use it in combat.

"It mostly favors the Schnee bloodline; glyphs, I can summon though strangely I seem stuck to only stalkers."

"You can summon deathstalkers?" Jaune began to freak out. "Why would you want to do that?"

Pyrrha calmed him down and explained that it was a manifestation of Blanc's aura, a facsimile that would fight for him. Blanc followed up by explaining that it wasn't deathstalkers he could summon, but the crane-like stalkers, which were more closely related to nevermores, but could not throw their feathers, and instead had long legs with sharp talons with which to attack, and sharp beaks. "They don't seem to have manifested yet, so that may be sometime in the future. They're not very dangerous except in forests, where at night it's easy to confuse them for trees and be caught unaware."

Pyrrha didn't let him go with mostly. "And the rest?"

"Well, you know I can travel through time. It doesn't have to be a long, exhausting trip through space-time. In combat I can travel back just a second or two, quickly and easily. Repeatedly." A small glyph appeared behind him, and Pyrrha felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned, and there was Blanc, but in the corner of her eye, she could still see him, before his former-self vanished.

"Woah, you can just… make copies of yourself and appear there? Like Blake?" Jaune was intrigued. Blanc shook his head. "No. Hers are like after-images; not real. That's really me." Blanc went on to explain time travel to the blonde the way he'd explained it to Pyrrha.

"So, there's actually two of you, at the same time, in different places? How many times can you do that?" Blanc considered it a moment, then responded with a question to Jaune. "Do you mean consecutively, or simultaneously? I can do it many times consecutively, but the most I've existed simultaneously so far is 5 times, and only for the barest of instants. I suspect I could speed that up with some other glyphs to dilate time further, but it's… stressful on my body to do that much, all at once."

"And… if something happens to one of you, all of you get hurt?" Blanc shook his head. "No. You might think that'd be the case, but we're completely separate. Future me might know something past me doesn't, but once the glyph begins, future me is a completely new … thing."

"So, a copy? So… you die every time you do that and are replaced by a copy with the same thoughts and feelings?"

Blanc stared off into space. "... Fuck you for making me think this, Jaune. Yes, I guess so… but my aura goes with me so no? I don't know. Let's not think about that."

It was getting late, so they broke up for the evening. Jaune promised to practice his Kata in his spare time, Pyrrha promised to help him, and Blanc promised to work on some things for Pyrrha. "Oh, Jaune, before you go. I made some armor for you. It's not quite ready, but it should help make up for the light armor you have now."

"You're a smith too? Is there something you can't do? Can you fly and throw lightning and block bullets with your hands? Shoot lasers out of your eyes? How's a guy supposed to compete?" It was said in a very friendly manner, but thinking about the stolen power, Blanc choked a bit, then replied. "No lasers from my eyes. Not yet anyway." He winked at Pyrrha, and then let them get on the elevator. "I've got to report to professor Ozpin. I'll catch up with you guys tomorrow. Oh, Pyrrha, how did you find me when you came to my room?

Jaune whispered in what sounded like jealousy to her. "You were in his room?"

Pyrrha didn't answer Jaune, but instead reminded Blanc that there was a directory on their scrolls, with names and their local addresses. Full names. So much for Blanc keeping his secret. Maybe no one would look. Fat chance of that… Blanc sent them down.

What he actually needed was space. Every time he underestimated Jaune, he got caught by what were amazing coincidences. He'd not used the power since arriving; how could Jaune guess about those things? Yet, he had done them in the past, and suspected there was no reason he couldn't now. But it did bring up a point which the plan had no contingency for; what if now that the power was in a time in which another copy of it, albeit split into two pieces, already existed, what if the power didn't work?

Blanc called upon what was the fall maiden's power, and rose from the ground, fiery tips glowing from his eyes like wings. Lightning curled around his hand, and then he released the power, feeling the gnawing ache in him that always accompanied it, that ache to be free from its prison. Blanc wasn't sure who was the prisoner in this relationship. He'd spoken to Ruby about it once, and the feeling was completely foreign to her. To him, it felt like being accused of theft by everyone who saw him; like physically starving he was so hungry, even though he wasn't and his stomach was fine. Using the power simply hurt like it was trying to rip itself free from him, and even when he didn't, it was like a dull headache that wouldn't go away. He'd do almost anything to get it to stop.

Eventually, he did actually report to Ozpin. He figured it was best to keep the man up to date with this part of the plan, though he doubted Ozpin didn't already know. Ozpin asked a few questions about the training regime and schedule, and agreed to add Pyrrha and Jaune to the access list for that floor. Blanc also brought up his plans to train team RWBY and possibly the rest of team JNPR, and asked Ozpin for advice on the approach.

"Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie should be fairly easy; get Jaune to rope them in to the training. Otherwise, I'd suggest broaching the subject with team RWBY's leader. Tell me, do you plan to continue to let Pyrrha and Jaune believe Winter Schnee is your mother?" Blanc didn't like where the conversation was going. "I panicked. I'm not sure how to resolve it now."

"You might try telling them the truth. They are truly good people and worthy of your trust and faith." Blanc rose from his chair, thanked the headmaster, then headed out without saying anything else. He'd been careful to be careful and secretive without lying, but in this case he'd made a mistake and now he had to find a way to fix it, because it was likely to come up at some point and he didn't need the plan to fall apart because of a loss of trust in him. "I could tell them on your behalf, if you desire."

Blanc ground his teeth. "Please, don't interfere with this. I'll tell the truth if necessary." Ozpin said nothing more, so Blanc took it as a dismissal and left.


	11. Chapter 11

**Goodwitch's combat class**

Blanc, Jaune, and Pyrrha had met three times a week over the last two weeks, working on the kata, and teaching Jaune about his semblance. Blanc explained to Jaune that he knew about his semblance because of what Ruby, Yang, and the others had told him in the future when talking about his father. Blanc was watching Jaune square off against Dove Bronzewing. Bronzewing had some skill with his blade, and good footwork, but at this point Jaune was matching him, and with the addition of the shield, as long as Jaune kept in close quarters, he was going to win.

Bronzewing made a misstep, and Jaune stepped into him, pushing Dove's blade away, then following up by hitting his wrist, causing Dove to drop his blade. From there, some quick slashes that Bronzewing couldn't defend, and Jaune won based on aura loss. Team JNPR cheered their leader, joined by RWBY. CRDL was less pleased, based on the glare Jaune was getting to his back. Blanc could tell Pyrrha noticed.

Tempting as it was to put CRDL on the straight and narrow, he knew it was a problem Jaune needed to solve, for his own self-esteem and stature. The problem was, Jaune wasn't the Jaune they'd picked on in the other time; he was more confident, more capable, and that made the situation less predictable. A microcosm of the problem he'd expressed to Ozpin; changing the past changed the future, and while that was what they intended, but made what he knew about that future less valuable. Stale intel, is what they'd called it when working on the plan.

The CRDL problem had been considered but the additional training had been necessary, so Blanc would keep an eye on it and make sure nothing went pear-shaped. It felt like babysitting, but he had to remember that they couldn't see what was coming; darkness had barely touched them in this golden age. Blanc shook himself from his stupor and packed up his things.

He entered the dining hall to find the resident bullies picking on a faunus. Her rabbit ears were too difficult to hide, and they'd apparently caught her without the rest of her team. He fought down the urge to interfere, only to find Jaune standing up. He was too far to hear what was being said, but he could tell based on the body queues that Jaune had confronted Cardin, and team CRDL was surrounding him. Pyrrha rose to join Jaune as the faunus left. As Ren and Nora began to get up as well, Blanc thought it appropriate to intervene.

He yelled across the room. "Cardin, a word if you please." The large man turned and saw who's called to him, then stilled. CRDL had been gearing up for a tussle with JNPR, but Cardin remembered his altercation with Blanc from the beginning of the year. "Ehh, fuck you. Let's go." The avian-themed team departed, and the room went back to normal as Nora and Ren returned to their seats. Blanc walked to Jaune, who was fuming.

"I had it handled. I didn't need your help, and I don't need you to fight my battles." Poking Blanc in the chest with his finger as he finished his angry statement.

"What you almost had was an unsanctioned fight between your team and theirs in the mess."

"It's not very dirty, and what are you talking about?" Jaune needed to work on being more observant.

"Jaune, your whole team was about to back you up in a fight you picked. Their loyalty is admirable, but your choice leaves something to be desired." Blanc got closer and began to whisper to him "We can't afford to get noticed. Win or lose, a fight in the dining hall between two teams is going to get noticed, and we need to keep a low profile, not have people looking into why you suddenly can fight."

"So, I'm just supposed to let them act like that? Because I can't." Blanc sighed. "This isn't a game. People will die for the mistakes we make, right here and now. She gets her ears pulled, you stand up for her, she doesn't learn to fight her own battles, and when the time comes, she falters and her team dies."

Jaune looked shocked. "That… that happens?"

"I don't know, but it might. She has to learn to stand up for herself. Back her up, but like you don't want me fighting your battles for you, you need to let her fight hers. And for fucks sake, don't pick fights with every little shit that starts trouble nearby. We need to keep our eyes on target." Blanc clapped Jaune on the shoulder. "We good for practice afterward still?"

"We'll be there. Um… I was thinking. Do you think Ren and Nora could join us? They've been bugging Pyrrha and I about where we go." Blanc knew he'd have to do it eventually, and this was a good opening. "Sure. Not every practice; and I'm not an instructor so I can't go around training everyone here. Tell you what, come by my room after lunch and bring them, and we'll talk; set up a schedule. I'll try to work out something for them. Frankly, they're already pretty good and I'm not sure I can help them."

"Don't be modest. Besides Pyrrha, you're the best fighter I've ever seen." Blanc blushed at his father's unexpected compliment, then turned a bit serious. "Jaune, I never saw them fight. I only heard about them a few times when I was young. Pyrrha and you use weapons I've specifically been trained to use and are learning techniques I was specifically taught to be able to teach you. I don't know much about warhammers or… pistol blades or whatever Ren calls those things."

"Ren calls them StormFlower. What do you mean you heard about us when you were young?" Nora popped up, bubbly and in their space. "Fucking hells, what are you doing? This was a private conversation, Nora." Blanc was freaking out, internally and it showed externally. How much had she heard?

"Well, Ren wheedled out of Jaune that you've been training him and Pyrrha, and we want in. And if you don't, I'll break your legs!" Blanc's wide eyed stare said he believed her. "Nora." Ren said calmly, having joined them. "Please, don't threaten our friends."

"Ohhhh kay… let's tone this down a notch. Jaune and Pyrrha will bring you guys by my place after lunch and we'll talk about it there, okay?" Pyrrha had joined them by that time, and asked "Won't you be joining us for lunch, Blanc?"

"Nah, I've suddenly got to do some research I hadn't expected on fighting with some different weapons." He said, glaring at Jaune, but somewhat jokingly. "I'll just whip something up in my kitchen.

"You have a kitchen? What kind of dorm is that?" Ruby inquired, startling Blanc. "How… why does everyone think my conversations are public discourse? My room is two-bedroom apartment. I'm the only person there, but I suppose I might get a roommate eventually. Is that weird?"

Weiss chimed in, from the table nearby. "It is for first year students. They're usually reserved for upper classmen and unmarried instructors." Blanc turned to her and gave her a forced smile; no one made him uncomfortable like she did.

Suddenly Yang yelled out "Party at Blanc's place!" and the hall began to empty with people cheering.

Blanc screamed "WHAT THE FUCK, YANG? NO. NO NO NO THERE IS NO FUCKING PARTY." Ruby looked at him with puppy dog eyes and a pouting lip.

"No."

"Please?"

"I said no. I don't have the food or the drinks." Yang chimed in "We can take care of that."

"I don't have the space." Pyrrha and Jaune had started to get nervous. Blanc was pretty upset; the man enjoyed his privacy. And really, his rooms weren't big enough for that many people.

"Too late! They're already going; all they have to do is look it up in the directory." Yang looked smug.

Blanc thought for a moment. "If they're all at my place, then the training area is going to be mostly free. Thanks Yang. They'll blame you for the lack of a party, and I just have to pick up my gear in my rocket locker." Yang looked startled at being outmaneuvered, but before she could get angry, Blanc had already started marching out of the room. "I'll see you guys there in an hour, ok? I need to work out some stress."


	12. Chapter 12

**Beacon Training facility**

Yang had followed shortly after, fuming but realizing she'd had no place dropping so many people on the man at once. She'd resolved to apologize, mostly because she found him kinda hot and she wanted to know him better, and he got along so well with Ruby and team JNPR that she figured he must be pretty cool.

She'd found him in one of the simulation rooms, running a custom simulation. Hordes of ursa, beowolves, and boarbatusks were charging at him from all directions, and Blanc was in the middle, wearing his duster and with both of his bladed arm-things in each hand, spinning them. Tonfas he'd called them.

As the first boarbatusk charged and got near him, he dash-stepped to the side, his coat flying in the opposite direction of his movement, and he slashed its legs with one of the tonfa, then brought the same arm back, the tonfa pointed along his arm and out at his elbow, and jammed the blade through its side near its belly, ripping the blade back out and destroying the hologram. He spun as a second boar passed on the opposite side, slashing its back but not penetrating the bone, then jammed both elbows back, piercing a Beowulf, all in the matter of a few seconds. As more of the holographic creatures approached, he began to launch himself from one to the other, switching his right-hand tonfa into a long sword with no crossguard, and stabbing weakpoints, and occasionally slashing his way down the back of the ursa or bigger beowolves. He continued at this rapid movement between targets, rolling between their legs and slashing, or occasionally punching forward with the blade point on the short end, ramming through the bone plates in a way she hadn't seen blades penetrate before.

After watching him fight for fifteen minutes, the numbers of holographic opponents steadily rising, she finally saw him get backhanded by an ursa. He recovered into a roll, slashing open a beowolf's stomach as he stood, then dropping into a crouch to avoid another strike by another ursa, when she stopped the simulation. The kill count stood at 183.

"Trying to simulate getting killed?" She smiled at him, speaking in a friendly manner. He was dripping with sweat; the long overcoat trapping heat from his body. He walked over to pick up a towel and get some water. "Come to bitch me out for ditching your party idea?"

"Nah, that wasn't cool of me to spring on you like that. I came to tell you I'm sorry." Blanc was surprised; Yang had never apologized for anything she'd done when he was growing up, all the way until he'd left. Never to anyone. "Really? Well, thanks? Apology accepted." She stood around, watching him. "Was there something else?"

"Well, I wanted to talk to you some more. Get to know you better. You get along well with my sister; no reason we can't be good friends too."

Blanc looked at her and replied. "You just want to see me sweaty with my shirt off." Yang grinned "Couldn't hurt." Blanc shrugged and took off his armored ankle-length duster, hanging it next to the towel he'd just been using. Underneath he wore a simple white t-shirt, now soaked in sweat, and tan slacked with a brown leather belt and brown boots. He looked like he'd competed in a wet t-shirt contest, and Yang would say based on his muscles, he'd won. He kicked off his boots, pulling his soaking socks off his feet. "You planning to join me in the shower too? You wash my back, I wash your hair?"

Yang looked surprised; she was usually so forward it put people off but he seemed to be willing to hit right back. She liked him more already. "Well, let's see what you look like without your shirt before I answer that." Blanc sighed as he saw Ruby standing at the doorway. Yang noticed his stare and turned to look herself, blushing as she noticed the rest of her team now there as well, all staring at her flirting with a sweaty Blanc. A sweaty Blanc whose t-shirt was now practically see-through. But they weren't grinning; in fact, Ruby was covering her mouth, looking shocked, so she turned back and instead of looking him in the eyes, she looked down and saw what she'd missed.

His arms were covered in scars, burn marks; healed slashes and puncture wounds. From what she could see through the transparent shirt, now that she took the time to look more closely, his chest was worse. Some were small and thin, stab wounds that had been stitched closed but too deep to not leave a mark. Others were angry and torn; perhaps from grimm, or maybe something else. What might have been a tattoo upon closer inspection was actually some sort of brand which appeared multiple times on his torso alone. She reached out to him, touching his wet chest over a particular scar that had left angry scar tissue in a line across his pectoral. She looked back up to his face, and saw something worse. Shame. He pulled away from her.

"Blanc… I…"

"I don't want to talk about it. The world isn't rose-colored for everyone, Yang." He grabbed his bag and headed to the locker room to shower and clean up. Ruby joined her sister. "Yang? He looks like someone tortured him."

"Oh Ruby, I think someone did."

Weiss said nothing and walked away, thinking to herself. She recognized the shape of the thin, neat scar lines. She had one herself, from a mistake early with Myrtenaster. She'd been playing around with it, like a stupid little girl; throwing it up in the air and catching it by the handle. She'd gotten distracted and the blade had spun, coming down and stabbing her thigh. The best surgeons lien could by, and she still had a small white line of a scar, though no one had been close enough to notice. Had someone copied her uniquely made blade? A rapier weapon like it? The scars were old, like her own but older, but they were far more numerous. Caused with intent, stabs and not slashes. She supposed it must've been another rapier or perhaps a knife of some sort, but for the scars to look like they did, she believed he would have to have been no older than 10, and probably younger. Who would do that to a child? She shuddered at the thought.

Blanc showered quickly, and was sitting on a bench in the men's locker room, making a plan of action. He figured the crowd at his room had likely left, or hacked their way through the door. Either way, it was time to return; he'd give team JNPR a call and have them meet him there. He'd no idea what to do about the present situation. Yang was just so… disarming. They had too much history, and having her here confused him and had him making mistakes. The whole team RWBY knew, including Blake, and Yang was a fucking gossip; he suspected she'd keep quiet about this but it was probably too much to think someone wouldn't talk to team JNPR at least.

He could smell lilacs. The steamy room must be picking up her shampoo; she'd used it right up until shampoo had become an unobtainable commodity, there in the last few weeks. He didn't turn; he knew she was there. She could see his back now, clearly. "I know you said you didn't want to talk about it, but… I think you need to talk about it with someone. And I need to talk to you about it."

"I'm sitting here in just a towel; do you have no boundaries? I told you I didn't want to talk about it. You couldn't understand." He felt her fingers on his back, gently stroking one of the many whip-scars. "Then make me understand."

He jerked away from her touch, turning toward her. "And who do you think you are that you can just demand that of me, like I owe you an explanation. What do you want from me?" He stood up. "You want my body? Fine. Take it." He dropped his towel, completely nude before her.

It was intended to shock her, and it did. He had scars everywhere, and despite the fact that this was the first time that 'party-girl Yang' was seeing a man nude, the scene was completely without eroticism. "What, no? Then how about you get out so I can get on with my life. You barely know me; you don't have any right to ask me to talk to you about this."

She turned from him, stopped a moment as she left, and said "It doesn't have to be me, but it should be someone. You're not alone here." She left so she didn't hear him respond. "You've no idea how alone I really am."


	13. Chapter 13

**Blanc's Rooms**

Blanc met team JNPR at the door, a distinct frown on his face. Pyrrha stopped him as he went to unlock the door; they'd been waiting on him to arrive. "Are you all right, Blanc?" He looked at her, replying "Not particularly, but I'll get over it. I always do."

"That's right, turn that frown upside-down!"

Ren scolded her. "Nora." She grinned, grabbed Blanc, and pulled his head into her cleavage. "You could do what Ren always does when he's down." She hugged Blanc too her, smashing his face into her chest. "Nora, let him go." Nora grabbed Ren after releasing Blanc and did the same with him, earning a distinct smile from the dark haired man and distracting Blanc from his melancholy with her antics. "Thanks Nora, but I think Ren might be a bit jealous."

"Oh, we're not together-together. Are we Ren?"

"What does that even mean, Nora?" Jaune asked. She said it all the time, but they were quite affectionate, and when they thought he and Pyrrha weren't looking, he often caught them kissing. He was pretty sure he'd caught them in a corner making out once at a party, but Nora had simply said they were just practicing, like friends do. It made him wonder; he was friends with Pyrrha…

Blanc unlocked the door, opening it from the outside and waving everyone in. As they entered, the main room was full of equipment; some in various states of repair, some obviously complete. Along the back wall, by the common window, was a machine that appeared to be cutting something out of a solid block of metal by using a blue beam to guide luminescent red bits of goo. Some of the equipment had the distinct glow of various dust crystals, some in extremely odd shapes. On the table in the middle sat a pair of gauntlets with matching greaves and bracers.

"Oh, Jaune. I made these for you." Blanc pulled Jaune out of his stupor and over to the table. "These should work well with your armor until I complete a replacement for it. I noticed you don't have anything to protect your hands, forearms, or ankles. Here, try them on. There's a chair over against the wall." He led Jaune over to the chair which had obviously come with the table. "Sorry guys, you can find the chairs against the walls where I had to move them; just set the stuff in them on one of the boxes or something."

Blanc had Jaune sit. "You really need to get boots instead of these worn-out sneakers." Jaune was stubborn, however; the sneakers were 'broken-in' and quite comfortable. "And if you drop your sword, it'll go right through them. Here, try a spare pair of mine on." Oddly to the group, they fit perfectly, though Pyrrha immediately understood why. Blanc helped Jaune snap the greaves over the outside of the boots; the silver-white metal coming up from his ankle to his knees, much like Pyrrha's copper versions. Each side had odd rectangular protrusions molded smoothly into them on both the outside and inside of his legs, where the seams of his pants would be, down at the ankles and extending up smoothly to mid-calf. "How do they feel?"

"Surprisingly, they feel pretty good. Even the boots feel like they're right." Blanc offered to let Jaune keep the boots; he wouldn't be here long enough to need another set, and it would save them an unneeded shopping trip. It was then that Jaune noticed glowing marks along the back side of each of the protrusions; a soft red glow that was almost pink. "Uh, what are those?"

"Ah, my own invention. Dust glyphs. Those in particular are wind glyphs made with cut fire dust crystals."

"And…. What do they do? I don't know what my semblance is but I know it's not glyphs… at least I think it's not. That's Weiss's thing." Pyrrha's eyes widened, looking at Blanc, then over to their other two companions, but no one but her noticed anything, and Blanc didn't react. "Ah, well, that's also part of my semblance, and I've discovered that by using dust crystals, I can store my semblance in these glyphs and allow them to be used later. These in particular will cause a very hot wind to force its way down the four exhausts." Jaune looked at Blanc like he had no idea what that meant. Blanc rolled his eyes, looked over at Pyrrha, then Nora, and finally Ren, who at least seemed intrigued but it was obvious no one understood. "They're jump boots. You activate the glyphs, and the force of the hot air rapidly expelling out the exhausts will cause you to jump high in the air. I… haven't tested them yet so it's probably best we do it somewhere safe; maybe even take them off and just see where they land. As an aside, I do know that the air will burn up close, so… you want to be careful where you use them and who might be near them when you set them off."

Pyrrha chimed in "Do you need to reset them when he uses them?" It was a good question. "Well, that's the great thing. No, I don't. They don't actually use my aura, they'll use his. When he uses them, they'll reset when his Aura has enough energy to do so; storing the excess aura that would bleed off as the day goes by. That also means they won't work unless his aura is full. Can't get around that without risking your life if your aura gets too low."

"Oh man, Blanc, these are so cool! And you made them yourself? For me? How can I ever repay you? These are great! I'm going to be just like x-ray!" Blanc chuckled, amused. "Well, no need to repay me. These are prototypes for the Schnee Dust Corporation. They paid for all this equipment and supplies. And frankly, I just really love making this stuff. I've been doing it since I was young."

"What, you're an armorer too? You made your own gun… man, what can't you do? You're superhuman!" Jaune was overwhelmed but grateful. "Well, the combat training was what I had to do. This is what I wanted to do. A ... dear friend of my mother got me into it. She was more into weapons, though." Blanc was thinking of Ruby, and how she'd shared her 'hobby' with him and how he's loved the way it let him spend time with her without making his mother upset at him not training, and that after Ruby died, it was how he remembered her; honoring that time with the one person he really felt gave him unconditional love. "Besides, we're not done." Blanc got up, went over the table, and returned with the bracers.

"What do these do, shoot laser beams? Breathe fire or ice? I know, do they make me invisible?" Blanc was grinning now; Jaune was like an excited kid and it was wonderful to see that in his father. Jaune's mood was infectious, everyone was as happy and excited for him as he was.

"Well, no. Let's get them on and I'll show you." Blanc helped him attached the bracers, which also clasped together, and some faint blue lines wrapped around them. Blanc then helped Jaune put on the gauntlets, which were metal gloves; they had some fine workmanship but no glowing dust. "The gauntlets just protect your hands; they're reinforced and you should be able to grab all but the sharpest of blades without cutting your hands, as well as protecting your wrists, but still let you move them freely. I've put some insulation in them and anodized chromium, which is why they have that silverish sheen. Chrome is very resistant to weather and wear and tear, and this will allow you to wear them in bad weather, or even water if necessary without damaging them."

"The bracers are… well the blue lines are mostly for show, but they also allow you to use your aura to activate them instead of having a release mechanism. Same with the greaves, actually. Go ahead and push some of your aura into the … you know what, let me do it. We'll work on this so you can do it yourself another time." Blanc was worried Jaune would set off the boots and smash into the ceiling; it could break his neck if Jaune's aura didn't protect him. He reached out and gently touched the bracers, feeding a small bit of Aura to them in the same way he might unlock someone's aura for them. From each bracer sprang forth wings; thin but sturdy, with a sharpened edges, front and back; triangular, but shaped a bit more decoratively. "These will help stabilize your jumps and allow you to control how you move with them; the greaves don't burn out all at once."

"You mean, I can fly?"

Blanc grinned "For a short time, yes. They weigh too much to glide but as long as the boots are going, the thrust will let you keep up. If your aura isn't damaged, you should be able to keep feeding it to the boots for some time. You'll need to practice; I'd do so somewhere with a soft landing, like a lake. You should be able to swim okay in them as well; they're not that heavy." And they weren't, remarkably. "They're made out of a composite, but they're actually mostly ceramic. Clay. Got some titanium weaved through them to make the shape sturdy, and a chrome and aluminum mixture on the outside to add additional strength and protect them from wear and tear."

Pyrrha admired the workmanship of what a son had done for his father; she could tell there were lots of unnecessary but decretive touches in it, showing that Blanc had made these as much for form as function. She also distinctly noticed that the greaves looked very much like silver versions of her own. As if he could read her mind, Blanc turned to her and said "I've got a set of similar equipment I'm working on for you now, Pyrrha." He smiled at her, then turned toward the two newcomers.

"I'm afraid I didn't get much of a chance to look up information about your fighting styles. I did, however, make some gifts for you as well. I didn't make you armor, but… " Blanc reached into a box, and pulled out a grip. It was leather, laced with dust in the way Jaune's greaves were, though the color was different. "For your hammer; it'll generate an electric current you can feed into your semblance." Nora grinned at him "Gimme gimme gimme!" Blanc handed it over with a chuckle, then pulled a pair of metal tubes from the box. They had a green hue, like Stormflower, but the inside of them had a soft glow. "The dust crystals will accelerate the shells coming out; fast enough to pierce some grimm bone. They'll be… louder when you fire them." Ren thanked him and accepted the new additions.

Pyrrha got his attention. "Where do you find the time to do all of this?"

"I don't sleep very much. Anyway, I do have this ready for you." Blanc walked over to the other side of the room, and pulled a sheet off a golden cuirass. "This, … this is for you." He lifted it up with one arm, and carried it to her. "When I finish the matching greaves and bracers it'll look more put together. A golden angelic warrior." He turned away from her "The crystals aren't visible; they're multilayered and they'd be too fragile. Reduced weight so you can still move quickly in the heavier armor… some dilation glyphs that will decelerate anything that begins to break through the armor." Including a glyph that would stop any object in time, for a few seconds. It was, by far, his finest work ever. It would protect her, even where the armor didn't cover. Unfortunately, it wasn't rechargeable; the crystals would shatter when it was used. He'd engineered it to only activate if the user had no aura left; a final shield. His failsafe.

"The greaves and the bracers will accelerate your moves."

Jaune laughed out loud. "You're going to make her even faster? Pyrrha, we'll have to start calling you speedy or something." Blanc was grateful for Jaune's humor; he'd started to slip into worrying about the plan again. Pyrrha had walked over to one of his workbenches where he had his replacement tonfa, braced as he worked on etching the impressions for the glyphs. "And what will these do?"

"They'll let me imitate Jaune's semblance." At that, everyone turned to him. "Well, only one aspect. Jaune, you've told me you feel a force field around yourself when you use your aura; that's normal for aura users, but your force field is different. Have you noticed how it flows along your shield and sword? Well, you can project your aura. Again, not something unique, but… you can form it into objects, and you can push another's aura out of the way."

"Beg pardon… what?"

Pyrrha answered "He's saying you can pierce another's aura." Blanc nodded. "And that's what these do?" Blanc confirmed that with another nod. Pyrrha looked angry, and Ren appeared unhappy as well. Jaune, looking between them, turned to Blanc and asked the big question. "If grimm don't have an aura because they don't have a soul, why would you need weapons that can pierce someone's aura."

Blanc didn't answer, so Ren did. "These are a killer's tools, Jaune. Weapons of war." He set his barrels down on the table. "I'm afraid I can't accept these." Blanc turned back to him. "I can't make you take them of course, but … would you really sacrifice something that might save lives because you don't like something else I've made? Are you all this naïve?"

"Come on Nora." Ren left, Nora apologized and followed, but took the grip for her hammer. Pyrrha and Jaune stayed, however. "I wish you hadn't brought that up, Pyrrha. Take him the barrels please; they're made custom for him. Such a waste."

Jaune looked at the blades. "So this is real. I mean, I believed it was real but I guess I never thought about what that meant. People are going to die." Blanc clasped his shoulder. "It's war. This way, fewer people die… so many people's lives hang on what we do these next few months. It's weird, I kinda feel like I'm your dad, rather than the other way around. I need you both to know; I don't do this lightly. I don't want to kill anyone, but I have before, and I know if we're going to save this world, I'll have to do it again. That's what those are for."

He turned back to Pyrrha. "Are you still with me?" Turning to Jaune. "Both of you. I… I can do this alone if you can't."

"Don't be so dramatic. I believed you then, and I still do. I can see… this isn't something you want to do."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door frame. Nora and Ren stood in the doorway, a shocked look on their faces. Nora spoke up. "I changed Ren's mind."

Blanc looked up at the ceiling. "Let me guess, you heard that whole thing." He didn't wait to see Nora and Ren's synchronized nods. "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKKK. Wait… for real, what's the first thing you heard when you came back?"

Nora looked at Ren, then Ren at her, and they asked at the same time "He's your dad?"

Blanc passed out.


	14. Chapter 14

**Blanc's Rooms**

He woke up on a couch that had been covered in boxes, which were now on the floor. The room was empty, save for Pyrrha, who sat nearby in a chair. "I'm glad you've recovered."

Blanc sighed, looking around a bit, and noticing the door was shut. "Has it been long?"

"Half an hour or so. I wanted to make sure you were ok. You'll have to talk to them about this, you know?"

Blanc stared at the ceiling. "It's falling apart, and I can't blame this one on anyone else; I was simply careless. Can they be… discrete?" Pyrrha considered it for a moment. "Ren won't be a problem, though you might need to work to convince him. We'll talk to Nora. It'll be ok." Somehow, Blanc wasn't convinced. "Pyrrha, I don't know if you understand. The only advantage we have right now is my foreknowledge of what's going to happen. If our enemies get spooked; if they don't commit, they'll change their plans. And then, instead of acting, we'll be reacting."

"Would that be so bad? Time to be who we're supposed to be. Time to prepare?"

"And how do we do that? For what? They know a great deal about us; we know so little about them, even with what I brought back with me." He reached out and took her hand, first to pull himself upright, then to stress his point. "Pyrrha, listen to me. They won. We fought for decades and they won." For some reason he didn't let go over her hand. He'd have thought it would be calloused and hard, like his own, but it was remarkably soft for the hands of a warrior like herself.

She looked at him sharply, pulling her hand free. "So what is this then? You're getting us ready for what? I told you that you had my allegiance; Jaune is with you as well. Now, I've no doubt, Ren and Nora."

He looked her in the eye, and replied as sincerely as he could. "I'm getting you ready for what happens after. The war doesn't end here, even if we succeed. We'll push them back; perhaps give them a critical wound, deny them a crucial weapon, and give the world breathing space." He reached out for her, taking her hand in his again. "I need you to keep a secret for me. From everyone. A… contingency."

He rose from the couch and walked over to the workbench where his replacement tonfa lay, pulling her with him. He took her hand, and had her feel for a secret switch on the bottom inside of a drawer. A keypad appeared from a hidden holographic display. "You need to memorize this number." He then began putting his fingers through the projected numbers. There was no noise, no indicator that he'd activated anything. The number was at least 10 digits long. "Please, slow down. I can't… I can't keep up"

He showed her again and again, had her repeat the number, then repeat entering it. Each time she did, a hidden compartment unlocked across the room, then relocked after a few seconds; just long enough to get over to the compartment if you knew where it was. He made her repeat the pattern until she could do it from muscle memory rather than having to focus.

"Why is this so important?" She nodded. "Let me show you. Do it one more time."

She unlocked the mechanism again, only this time Blanc opened the compartment on the other side of the room and pulled out a leather bound journal. "This is a roadmap. A detailing of everything I can remember regarding the events of the future, up until I left. I … well I skip things like what I had for breakfast, but it details events, locations, people, resources… vulnerabilities and strengths… it has schematics I memorized, as much technology and other research as I could cram into my head. Information regarding the nature of grimm, of the enemy directing them, of who's come to destroy Vale and ultimately Remnant itself. This… if something happens to me, this is our failsafe. It's not finished yet, but I am working on it every day, for a few hours at a time, before I begin to forget." He handed her the book, thick with neat precise writing. "It's also a sort of memoir. Parts of it are very personal. There are parts of it written for Ruby, for Jaune, for my mother… for Yang. And yes, part of it is for you too." He took the book back from her gently, put it in the compartment, and shut it, the locking mechanism activating automatically."

Pyrrha was a bit shocked. "I don't know what to say… are you sure I'm the right person?"

"You're the only person. I have faith in you. I'm asking you to keep this to yourself and not abuse it. This information is only for if something happens to me, so that you can carry on without me. I'm trusting you to know who needs to know what, and to control that information. It has to be you. I've spent my entire life training for this mission; admiring you from stories and news articles and letters written by my father and others, to you and mentioning you in passing. I trust no one more. Will you do this for me?"

Pyrrha hesitated. "If you can't, I'll move the journal and find some other way to deliver the failsafe. I can't trust electronic means; hence the journal." She responded "No, I'll do it. You've shown great faith in me, and I promise to be deserving of it."

"I knew you wouldn't let me down. Thank you." Pyrrha made her way to the door. "I have one question. You've put a lot of work into that, I can tell just by looking at it for those few seconds. Why? I remember your conversation after Professor Ozpin left."

"Some things can't be avoided, Pyrrha. Your place in the plan puts you in a position to unconsciously inform our enemies by the way you react; I have to keep parts of the plan secret from you and many others because of that. But you're right."

"So do you just believe you'll die, or is you dying part of your plan?" Blanc hesitated at the angry look on her face. "You already know the answer to that. I'm sorry; the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. I know you understand because you would sacrifice yourself." She turned to him. "Sometimes a warrior will fall on the battlefield, defending who and what she loves, but dying is a consequence, not the goal. What you're doing is more like suicide than sacrifice."

"Whatever it is, it's necessary. I promise, I'll explain it to you when you understand more about the nature of what will be asked of you; when you can understand it better. When you're faced with your own sacrifice. Good night, Pyrrha."

She turned to the door, opening it, then called over her shoulder. "Blanc, I can accept your decision without liking it, but I'll hold you to that promise. And, you can talk to me. You don't have to go through this all alone." She closed the door behind her, and learning from experience, Blanc locked it, then retired to his bedroom to sleep and recover for a few hours.

 **Patch, home of Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long**

"I'm home!" Ruby came in, tired from a week long extermination mission to clear grimm surrounding a nearby village. "Weiss? Blanc? Where are you guys?" Ruby was eager to see them, but there was no answer. As she passed Yang's room, perpetually empty, she heard a ring of steel on steel. Guessing they were in the back yard, she went to join them.

She slipped outside. "No, don't block. I told you, parry!" A quick strike, and the sickening sound of a blade stabbing into flesh. "Faster." Blanc stood in front of his mother, whose back faced the returned huntress. He was exhausted, holding up his father's sword, trying to deflect blows from his mother.

"Weiss! What are you doing?" Startled, Weiss turned mid-strike, Blanc barely deflecting the thrust which clipped his ear. Ruby rushed forward to scoop the boy up into her arms. Weiss turned back to the boy, then dropped her blade. "Weiss, we talked about this. He's not old enough for this." As Ruby picked the boy up, she could feel the wetness in his shirt.

"Aunt Ruby! You're home!" The boy snuggled into her.

Weiss schooled her features. "Welcome home Ruby…. He needs to train. You know as well as I how dangerous things have become. I can't afford to wait anymore. He was attacked while you were gone, Ruby."

"Grimm? On Patch?" Weiss shook her head. "Fang. I… he has to be able to defend himself."

"He's bleeding! Weiss, his aura isn't unlocked. You've just been stabbing him." Weiss looked away, then turned back. "He's my son. Jaune's son. He's tough. I love you, but he is MY son and I will raise him the way I must." Ruby narrowed her eyes, then turned to Blanc, who smiled up at her. She could see the hidden grimace from the pain of his wounds, so she let him go. "Come on, let's get you all fixed up." Ruby didn't say another word, leading the boy inside to close up his cuts. Waiting until Blanc had proceeded her inside, Ruby turned back and whispered to Weiss, just loud enough for her to hear. "We'll talk about this tonight. I can't… later. We'll talk about this later."


	15. Chapter 15

**Blanc Arc's bedroom at Beacon Academy**

Blanc woke from yet another memory/nightmare. They were almost daily now; bits of things he remembered well, and things like this, that he'd forgotten. The two women he'd considered parents in the first fight he'd ever witnessed. His mother and aunt Ruby didn't fight often, and generally not where he could see or hear them (or at least, where they thought he could), but he'd only pretended to go to sleep that night; so eager to see the woman he wished was his mother. Aunt Yang was fun and cool, when she was around, but aunt Ruby was there, she loved him, and she gave him affection, and shared her cookies with him.

It was the first time he'd realized many things. First, that his mother did worry about him, but only because he represented a chance to 'fix things'. Weiss had said the word 'mistake'. Ruby had said 'regret'. In the end they'd made up and then did that thing where they both moaned a lot, like they were hurting each other but that made them both happier the next time he saw them. He didn't understand adults.

He did understand that his mother didn't really want him. As he'd get older, he'd refine those thoughts; he was a tool, a weapon, a chance at avoiding everything that had happened after that cataclysmic day when the adults in his life had grown up overnight. Ruby cared for him, but Ruby loved his mother. She'd patch him up in the days to come, and eventually persuade his mother into unlocking his aura a few years later, because someone was bound to notice.

He remembers that stone-hearted feeling when he finally accepted his destiny. The way he felt free now that he didn't have to worry about what to do with his life, or who he was, or why he was there. The only way for him to show love to his mother was to sacrifice for her. In those days, he'd thought that if he worked enough, trained enough, fought hard enough, he could earn his mother's love.

Now he knew better. He'd never earn her love, no matter what he did.

Blanc emptied his mind, setting aside the angst, and focused on his short-term goals, beginning to make a plan of action. Plan your work; work your plan. He'd have to talk to Ren and Nora about what they'd heard. He needed to get them on board, mostly to maintain the secrecy. Ren probably wouldn't be an issue, but Nora might. He'd have to tell them about Pyrrha's fate, and maybe Jaune's. Hopefully that would be enough to earn their discretion. Blanc had no idea if Nora could be discrete.

He'd made no progress on the Blake problem. She seemed introspective and quiet, but nothing nefarious. The training he was doing with Jaune and Pyrrha hadn't left much time for them to socialize outside their team, except at meals, where he could be involved as well. Blanc resolved to take a more active role in the issue. Unfortunately, that led to his next problem.

RWBY was going to be an issue, or more precisely, Weiss and Yang. Especially after what they'd seen earlier that day. He wanted to avoid Weiss all together, afraid she'd reject him, and afraid she wouldn't. If he was honest with himself, he was comfortable in his knowledge that she didn't care; he didn't want to challenge that with the possibility she might. And Yang. There was a minefield if anything was. The urge to get involved was strong; he knew just what to say, what she liked, what to do from experience, but with the whole story… even he thought it was dysfunctional at best. What would she do if she knew the truth?

Blanc decided to set RWBY aside for the moment and focus on Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie. They were the more immediate concern. He'd move on to checking out Blake, and deal with RWBY when that made it necessary. He knew it was an excuse to put off a painful decision; he knew he ought to make a decision and stick to it now rather than let time use his emotions to get him involved. He also knew part of him wanted to get involved … Yang almost made dealing with his mother worthwhile. And Ruby… he could barely stop himself, even now. Maybe Ruby was the key… but if he redeveloped that relationship the way it was from before, that would make things developing with Yang extremely awkward.

Blanc left his room, picked up his coat and his normal tonfa, and headed out to meet Pyrrha and Jaune, and probably Ren and Nora, at the training room in Beacon tower. Whatever else, time waits for no one, not even him, and the mission came first.

 **Secret Training Room, Beacon tower**

Blanc had been right; they were waiting for him there, with Ren and Nora. They dispensed with the greetings quickly, then Jaune and Pyrrha began going through their kata, while Nora tested her new grip, smashing a metal file cabinet flat; papers flew everywhere. "Uhh, let's try not to destroy anymore of Professor Ozpins stuff, okay?" Nora gleefully nodded.

Ren stepped up to Blanc. "I would like to spar with you." Blanc responded. "Without semblance." It was a statement. He didn't know what Ren's semblance was, but he'd been careful to keep his under wraps, and he'd not talked to them yet, and it was possible to put them into shock; it'd happened before. Nora cheered for her friend. "Kick his ass, Ren. Break his legs!" Jaune and Pyrrha were more neutral but generally supported their teammate as well. The three gave the two combatants room to move.

Ren shrugged Stormflower from his sleeves, and Blanc crossed his arms into his coat, pulling both tonfa into place easily, spinning one, and then the other, before crouching in a ready state. "At your command, Nora."

Nora screamed "Go!" and Ren opened fire with his 'SMGs', with their new 'armor piercing' barrels. The noise was louder than expected, which caused the four teammates to be startled, giving Blanc an opening to attack. He slipped under the shots, sliding on his knees and then digging one tonfa into the floor to start a spin, slicing his other tonfa across Ren's unprotected waist, dropping Ren's aura reserves into the yellow. Ren retaliated by quickly swinging the blades down, catching the blade between them, only for Blanc to switch the handle on that blade up into the longsword configuration and slide it back out.

Ren spun on his heels, opening fire as Blanc was behind him, but it was too late. Blanc struck with a quick lunge, the longsword blade striking his chest, blocked by aura of course, and following up with a leaping cartwheel over Ren's shoulder, bringing the tonfa down to strike at Ren's head. The raven haired teenager dropped to his knees, firing up into Blanc and damaging his aura reserves more and laying down on the ground, knees bent under him to allow him to continue firing, but even missing Ren's head, Blanc snapped the other tonfa into a longsword as well, spinning around as he landed to slap one of Ren's hands. The pain caused Ren to drop one of his weapons, and before he could bring the other to bear, Blanc had Ren's head pinned between both longswords in a scissoring deathblow. Ren's aura was in the red, Blanc's barely in the yellow despite the shots he would have taken. The match had taken less than 60 seconds.

Releasing Ren from his hold, putting his weapons away, then reaching down to help the man to his feet, Blanc gave his opponent and impressed smile. "Well done. If not for my coat, I think you would have had me." Ren's raised eyebrow prompted an explanation. "The coat is armored against ballistics via a special interweave and ceramic plates, which also help protect it against bladed strikes, and give it some other advantages as well. It can stiffen along the edges when a current is applied." Blanc demonstrated, and the coat's opening edges became rigid, allowing him to control it by holding the opening of his coat.

"That was your landing strategy?" Pyrrha was intrigued at the thought. "Yes, I glided down using the coat, but I hadn't planned on the added weight of my weapons so I didn't get as far as I thought I might." Jaune cut in with "So that's how you beat us to the temple?"

Nora giggled. "Well, he didn't wake up a deathstalker in a cave, either." Jaune grumbled good-naturedly, knowing Nora didn't mean anything cruel about it, though from anyone else it might have been a cutting remark. "That coat wouldn't do anything for my beauty here." Nora stroked her hammer lovingly. "Quite right. I've other tactics in mind for how to defeat you."

He didn't elaborate, so Ren spoke up. "I think it's time you give us an explanation of what's going on. I can see the resemblance between you and Jaune, and if I'm not mistaken, Weiss as well." Nora had her gossip face on. Blanc turned to her and spoke with as much force as he could muster. "This is a secret. It needs to stay that way; people will die over this. You absolutely cannot talk about this. NO gossip."

"Aww." Ren soothed her with an offer of some pancakes afterward. He wanted to hear. "Yes, Jaune is my father by a Schnee daughter." He didn't say anymore; he'd lied to Pyrrha because he'd been unprepared, but he didn't want to keep lying, and at the same time, he didn't want to admit to it yet, so he let them interpret that as they wished, specifically not addressing it in the hopes that Pyrrha would lie for him if it came up, not that she knew she'd been lied to yet. "I'm here because before the school year is out, Beacon will fall. Soon afterward Vale itself. Then comes a long, bloody war with the grimm, white fang, and the individuals behind it all, with the grimm destroying everyone at the end. I'm here because we lose, and there is no other choice."

Ren was quiet for a moment. "I've seen Weiss practice glyphs which accelerate movement and decelerate time. I imagine you have a similar semblance. You were sent because you're the only one who can do it?" Ren was quite perceptive; Blanc acknowledged it. "I… we have a plan, to change what happens." Ren turned to Pyrrha and Jaune. "And you believe him?"

Blanc burned some of his aura, and put up a time displacement glyph on Ren, pushing him a split second into the past and a half meter behind himself, next to Nora. Nora saw her best friend in two places at once, and Ren saw himself from behind for the first time without the use of mirrors and looking over his shoulder. It was Ren's turn to be shocked, but Nora held him up and kept him from passing out from the stress. "You… you're not making it up. You're not crazy."

"Ren… Nora… help me. If we don't change it, Pyrrha dies, Jaune burns to death killing her murderer and saving my pregnant mother… eventually everyone dies." Nora looked determined, and a bit angry. "No one hurts my friends. Count me in. I'll keep quiet, I promise." Ren nodded and joined her. "So, what is our plan."

Blanc scratched the back of his head, the way they'd noticed their team leader do on occasion. "Here's the thing; the people we're working against – they have spies, they're perceptive, and if they notice too much, they'll act. Maybe they'll attack, maybe they'll back off and change their plans. Whatever it is they do, what they won't do is what I have foreknowledge of, which puts us at a disadvantage. We have a fixed location in time and space that we have to defend, goals that are rather public, and an enormous group to defend against all attackers. They simply have to get people to panic." He avoided talking about the fall maiden, given their lack of knowledge of the nature of the myth and Pyrrha's relation to it.

"If the people panic, the negative emotion will drive the grimm. But, the wall? And the hunters? How do they get past us?" Jaune was quite tactical in his thinking usually, but also very strategic. What he had lacked in natural combat affinity he made up for with a sharp mind that he'd not used to the best of his ability, until his friends, and if he admitted it to himself, the woman he loved, were in danger. Blanc had noticed that with the need to protect them, Jaune hadn't had his bout of self-pity and recriminations that had kept him from accepting help that he'd been told about by Ruby. "A breach of the wall?"

"And airships bringing in grimm. How they get them onto the transports and keep them from tearing them apart from the inside is due the nature of our opposition. Other things to distract the hunters and huntresses and drive panic. All of it feeds into itself, making a collapse inevitable, and waking an ancient evil thought to be myth. I have to be careful in what I tell you. I hope you understand. Everything has to work like a clockwork; if I tell you the wrong thing and you unconsciously give a tell, they could break down our countermeasures and we'd fail. Probably not get another chance."

Jaune thought so more, then stood up and said to Blanc "That means you have to let them do some of what they're planning. Get them to commit, until they can't turn back. You're setting a trap, the same way you did that bully whose team you beat down in front of the dining hall that day."

Blanc turned to him but didn't look ashamed. "I can't save everyone. People will get hurt. People will die. Some will be innocent, others not. The plan is intended to save as many as possible, but the goal is to save humanity from extinction. A few lives lost as the price to save millions." He began to plead. JNPR was understanding, but he knew it couldn't sit well with them. It didn't with him either. "We could act now. I know who is here, who's planning this, and what their plans are. I could just have the authorities hunt them down. But we don't know where they are; we don't know the players who aren't directly involved who might interfere or pick up where things were left, or worse, formulate a new plan that we can't stop. And the sort of evil we're facing isn't the sort you can beat in a single battle. We'll all have to make sacrifices."

Team JNPR was still with him, though, so he explained to Ren and Nora the need to figure out Blake's position or involvement, and they began to talk about how to do that. Ren was extremely helpful in that regard, so Blanc asked him to take over that portion of the plan, and to let him know if he could help, delegating the task to the thoughtful martial artist. The group broke up for the evening, team JNPR heading out together to get some dinner and some rest. Blanc stayed behind to give them some space, then headed back to his rooms. He'd make his own dinner, then begin to work out plans for team RWBY, while taking some time to write more into the failsafe journal. Maybe he'd finish the replacements for Jaune's remaining armor; non-ferrous, of course. Another failsafe.

Blanc woke up to his scroll ringing. He wasn't sure who had his number; Ozpin probably, but then again maybe it was on that directory Pyrrha told him about. Blanc reached over and picked it up, looking to see Pyrrha's picture. He figured Pyrrha wouldn't call at 3:23 am if it wasn't an emergency, so he answered.

"Are you ok?" Pyrrha was crying. "Blanc… can you come to the hospital?"

"Pyrrha, what's going on? I can walk down to the clinic now. I'll get dressed and…" Pyrrha interrupted. "No, the hospital. In Vale. Someone attacked Jaune." Blanc sucked in a breath. "I'll be there as fast as I can." She thanked him, then disconnected.

 **Vale Central Hospital**

Blanc stepped into the emergency waiting room. Pyrrha was there, and upon seeing him rushed to his arms. He'd never heard of Pyrrha crying, let alone seen it, though he supposed all people cried at some point. When she'd sufficiently calmed, Blanc was able to get her to tell him what had happened. She and Jaune had been fooling around, both in their first relationship, and Pyrrha had become uncomfortable with something Jaune did. He hadn't persisted, but he'd decided he needed to have some space to calm down, and had left for a walk. He hadn't returned, and when the rest of the team had become worried, they searched for him. Pyrrha had found him, bleeding and unconscious, and Ren had contacted emergency services.

Blanc waited with her. Ren and Nora returned, having informed team RWBY, who would be coming later. They sat together, Pyrrha quietly crying. Ren got them coffee as they waited. Nora asked why Jaune's aura hadn't healed him, but Ren reminded her that with how they'd found him, his aura had been depleted.

With that depressing thought on their minds, the doctor came into the waiting room. He greeted them, apologized, and told them Jaune Arc had passed away thirty minutes earlier from cardiac arrest due to loss of blood. Pyrrha let out a wordless scream, collapsed to her knees, and began to sob with large heaving breathes.

* * *

This is the last chapter I have written so far; I do have further material written, but it's undergoing edit and is not complete enough to publish an additional chapter. Progress from here will be slower.


	16. Chapter 16

**Vale Central Hospital, Emergency Waiting Room**

Blanc… can you… can you fix this?" Nora spoke the expected question. Blanc considered it, and replied. "Yes, but there is a price to change the past. Every time I go back, I lose a bit of my aura. The small changes in space and time don't change a significant amount, but larger changes do. I used to have an aura much stronger than Jaune's, before I came back here."

"So? Do it!" Ren grabbed her shoulder and calmed her down. "Nora, he means its killing him to do it. Literally taking his soul. We cannot ask that of him."

Blanc replied. "Yes, you can, and I will. But I need to know more to reduce the cost as much as I can. Every time I do it, I'm weaker. It's why I can't make the trip again if we fail; I won't have enough soul left to go back and try again. What can you tell me about his injuries? About how long ago he received them?" Lie Ren gave him a rough approximation of what they'd found. "Okay. I need to know where you found him. I'll go there to reduce the cost, go back, and stop whoever did this." Pyrrha looked up at him, both horror in her eyes because she understood the cost, and gratefulness. "Please Blanc… I'll do anything."

"Pyrrha, you don't have to do anything. I'd do it anyway; he's my father. I'd do it for any of you. Tell me, where can I find him." Instead, the three remaining members of JNPR took him, Pyrrha still sobbing but now hopeful.

There was still blood on the concrete where they'd found him. Blanc didn't see anything that would indicate a fight, nor any cameras or other surveillance. He'd go back to the earliest estimated time and wait, probably in a nearby tree. "I need to get some things from my room. Don't worry about me; I have it from here." He left them there to retrieve his replacement tonfa, completed that evening before he'd gone to bed. He would give them justice; his mercy was a swift death.

 **13 hours earlier near Beacon cliff by the Emerald Forest**

Blanc ripped through time, arriving just after dusk had begun. He quickly looked around, and finding no one, climbed into a tree overhead of the spot where Jaune would bleed onto the concrete pathway. In the end he'd arrived a few hours early, and begun to get cold and lose concentration, when he heard the whispering voices, and recognized one as Cardin Winchester.

Blanc could drop out of the tree and kill him the way he'd killed Mercury in the forest of Forever Fall, but he needed to be certain. He'd been honest when he told them that killing wasn't something he wanted to indulge in if he could avoid it, so the least he could do is be certain he had the right targets.

"Okay, he's coming this way. Guys, hide over there behind those bushes." He was pointing at Russel and Dove. "Sky, go up head to cut him off. I'm gonna hide in this copse of trees and get him from behind." Well, Blanc wouldn't need to fret about who the targets were, most likely. Blanc saw Jaune come around the corner on the path, continuing into the wooded area, seemingly lost in thought and oblivious to the danger he was in.

Jaune passed the two men hiding behind the bushes, and proceeded to walk under the tree where Blanc waited. Like team CRDL, he didn't look up to notice the man waiting on the branch, but Blanc looked down, and saw Cardin slip behind Jaune and begin his swing. Dropping down from the branch, Blanc intercepted the blow, pushing Jaune out of the way and taking the brunt with his aura, which he'd prepared for that purpose.

"YOU!" This time, Cardin was caught and he'd decided not to back off. He made some quick horizontal swings, which the white-haired demon ducked, then went into a powerful overhand strike. Instead of blocking the blow, Blanc side-stepped it, allowing the mace to strike the concrete, then stepped back, stamping down on the handle near Cardin's hands, pulling Cardin down to the ground and stripping the mace from his grip. Blanc gave him a swift kick to the head, then prepared to meet the two friends from the bush, who already had weapons drawn as well.

In the meantime, Jaune found himself facing off against Sky Lark, while Jaune was unarmed. Sky swept in with his long bladed polearm, causing Jaune to jump back, then roll forward. Jaune remembered his training, and despite not having a sword or shield with him, he was prepared to get in close and neutralize the grey haired bully. His gambit worked; Sky was unprepared for an unarmed Jaune, and with a few body blows and a devastating uppercut, Sky was rendered unconscious.

Blanc was in a bit more trouble. Despite evidence to the contrary, both fighters were competent with their weapons and prepared to use them; vicious slices and revolver shots, while Blanc was forced to keep himself between Jaune and the others, all while worrying about Cardin getting back up or interfering. He had both tonfa out, so he stabbed Cardin in the leg, then swung forward, slicing both of the men across their armor, before turning and meeting their blades with his own. He sped himself up a bit using a glyph, and put them on the defensive, until finally he slashed Bronzewing's hand, disarming him, and was able to put the two bullies down in short order from that point. He'd dealt no fatal blow yet that evening, though he'd definitely did something to Cardin.

Now that their attackers were subdued, Jaune came to Blanc, careful to make sure Blanc saw him coming and to avoid the attackers on the ground. "Not that I'm not grateful, but what brought you out here to sit in that tree, waiting on me to pass… wait, what happened in the future that caused you to come back again?"

Blanc looked at him, stabbed Cardin in his other leg, and replied. "They murdered you. I had to watch Pyrrha learn you'd died. It broke her!" Jaune rubbed his neck and the hair on the back of his head. "Wow. Okay. I guess they did kind of deserve this. Wait, are those… you're going to kill them?"

"They're murderers. They attacked you in cold blood, while you were unarmed, from behind. I don't know what they do after Pyrrha's death, but at this point I'm certain they must've joined our enemies. We can't just let them go!"

"Why don't you let me worry about that, Messers Arc." Ozpin had arrived. "Forgive my tardiness, and my lack of breath. I arrived as soon as I could after your altercation was noticed. While I appreciate you coming back to save one of my students, once again, I can't let you kill four in the process like this, no matter what they might do in the future." Blanc rested the edge of one of his tonfa, now in longsword form, with the glyphs glowing white, making them look like sharper, deadlier versions of Jaune's sword when augmented by his aura. "I'm not sure you can stop me, Headmaster." Ozpin raised his cane, preparing to defend the fallen students, despite their attempted crime, when Jaune stepped in.

"Blanc, stop. You have to stop. This will get noticed." And like many other things, Jaune came out with just the right set of words to stop what was definitely in motion and likely to ruin their chances. Blanc felt foolish for almost indulging in revenge at this critical time. He raised his blade from Cardin's neck, gave him a quick kick to the ribs, then began to walk away, unable to tell Jaune he was right while remaining so angry about that fact. Blood welled up where the blade had cut into Cardin's neck, but the wound was superficial, and he'd live.

Ozpin pulled out his scroll and contacted Goodwitch and appropriate authorities, but stopped Jaune from chasing after Blanc. "Let him go. We'll need your statement, and maybe his, but I think it best if you give him some space right now." Seeing wisdom in that, Jaune relented, and waited with the headmaster. Jaune shared the details of what he remembered, downplaying his own self-defense and stressing his friend's defense. "You needn't worry, Mr. Arc. I'm well aware of our mutual friend's mission."

Ozpin checked his scroll, looking for the location of the other Mr. Arc's scroll, and checking his aura status. It was green, nearly full, but if his memory served him, and the esteemed man had a long and accurate memory, Blanc Arc's aura had significantly reduced in potential. It was something to investigate later, but it explained why Blanc didn't go back and fix time over and over until everything was perfect. He set a reminder to contact the time traveler the following day to discuss the matter, then greeted the arriving medical and security personnel, along with his good friend Glynda.


	17. Chapter 17

**Junior's Bar, an Hour After the Incident**

Blanc couldn't sleep, rest, or work. The tonfa he'd finished that night would remain unfinished, but he was wearing the finished copies and didn't need to finish them anymore. Coming back a half day, with all his equipment, even without displacing in space had hurt. Checking his scroll, it looked like he'd lost almost 20% of his aura potential from when he'd returned to this time. He still had a healthy amount; Jaune had an enormous aura potential compared to most hunters, and he'd inherited that in spades. And he could, if absolutely required, use the stolen power to make the jump, like he'd done in his original leap back in time, but he was afraid to find out what that did to the maiden power. They'd justified it by necessity and with the idea that Pyrrha would end up with both the power from him, and the power from the current fall maiden, and end up stronger in the exchange.

Atlas, while strict, had a fairly liberal policy toward so called 'adult' beverages, especially for those in the military or hunter/trainee groups. Vale, on the other hand, applied that policy to anyone over 18, regardless of position in society. Without Ozpin's forged documentation, on his scroll of course, he wouldn't have been able to imbibe, but if ever there was a time for a little libation and forgetfulness, this was it. He'd wanted to kill those men, boys really. They'd not matured enough in mind to justify calling them men, he thought. He'd been prepared to be especially brutal to Cardin over it, figuring him to be the instigator as he was their team leader. Part of him wanted to damn Ozpin for stopping him, but it'd really been Jaune and the mission that stopped him, and as with everything else, the mission came first. He really shouldn't be here; it was a risk to be seen by anyone. He didn't know how thorough the docs from Ozpin were, and he couldn't afford to be checked out too closely, but he felt like he'd go insane if he went back to his room. So here he sat, at Junior's bar, nursing a drink and thinking about what he'd done wrong.

He'd told Jaune and Ozpin what was going to happen, and he was sure they believed him, but it's one thing to know something happens, and another thing to see it or deal with its aftermath. That fell to him. Worse, however, he knew this hadn't happened in the original timeline, so it occurring was ultimately his fault; likely a result of his interference causing an escalation, and underestimating the nature of the bully. Cardin never got attacked in Forever Fall because Jaune had never been intimidated by Cardin into doing tasks for him over his transcripts, because Cardin didn't know… because Blanc had told them why they couldn't trust the roof. This was exactly the sort of thing he'd been warned about when working with Oobleck about the potential pitfalls of altering history. Small changes rippled through time, causing massive distortions at later times that would make foreknowledge useless and potentially make him fail his mission. He'd need to talk with Ozpin.

Jaune had been right about the bullies; if he killed them, someone would notice. Even if they just disappeared, someone would look into it, and the wrong person looking, or the wrong person noticing someone was looking into things, would potentially have their enemies changing their plans and destroying any chance at stopping them. Jaune had foreknowledge but not perfect knowledge; he didn't know the full extent of the conspiracy and he didn't know about alternate plans or the nature of his enemies. He didn't even know what Cinder Fall or Emerald Sustrai looked like; just Mercury Black, and only because he'd hunted him down as an older man. Would he even recognize the assassin at this age?

"What brings a man like you to a place like this?" Blanc turned to look and found a stunning brunette leaning back against the bar, wearing a short red dress, and as he looked down, not trying to hide checking her out, laced up black shorts underneath. "I needed to get some things off my mind, so I came down for a drink. Someone I know used to talk about this place, I wanted to see it for myself."

"I don't usually come to places like this myself, but I was meeting someone. Unfortunately, it appears they won't be able to make it tonight. Care to keep me company instead?" She smiled at him, a toothless smirk that was very sultry, and her eyes seemed to light up. They were amber, almost orange, and looked like they had an inner fire of their own. Her dress had some patterns woven into it, possibly with dust, but that wasn't all that uncommon. "All right. I'm Blanc, by the way."

"Charmed. Call me Cin." She led him to a table. The table was chest high without seats around it, the sort where people leave their drinks to dance, which made sense in a club. "Want to talk about what's bothering you?"

"Not really. I came here to forget about it, remember?"

"Very well then, would you prefer to dance?"

Blanc wasn't the best dancer, but he could keep rhythm. Aunt Ruby had said he moved like his father when dancing; at first Blanc had assumed that meant he was bad, but Ruby had explained how his father seemed to be an accomplished dancer – because of growing up with seven sisters, none of whom survived to meet Blanc. No one on his father's side had. Blanc hid his melancholy at the thought; he was an expert at hiding his emotions.

Blanc stretched out his hand to take hers, and they moved out onto the floor. The song had a quick pace, so they didn't need to get close to each other at first, but when the song changed, rather than go back to their table, they continued to dance. Blanc felt more carefree than he'd felt in some time, dancing with Sin, and it appeared she felt the same. By the third song they were grinding on each other; the lights had dimmed, and the occasional touch was becoming more frequent. Their final song was a slower number, probably to get the regular patrons of the club to wind down before leaving. Blanc was surprised at how late it was, but dancing with the woman had made him forget his problems. Unfortunately, the club was closing.

"It's been a pleasure, Sin. Thank you for helping me forget my problems for a while."

"It doesn't have to be over yet. Why don't you come back to my place with me?" Blanc saw no reason not to do it, so they finished their drinks and headed for the door. Blanc got his coat, having left his tonfa back in his rooms, and joined Sin as she was leaving. They caught a cab, and she led him by the hand into a large hotel, and up to her suite. "Let me get more comfortable. I'll be right out. Feel free to make us something from the Bar. The whole place is on my partner's tab." She disappeared into her bedroom, so Blanc went to the wet bar. He'd noticed what she liked to drink, and fortunately there was more stocked behind the bar, so he made one for both of them.

"Blanc, can you come help me with my dress?" That was his cue. He picked up a glass in each hand, and went to the bedroom door, pushing it open with his foot. The lights were dim; dim enough that the glow behind her eyes was definitely not a figment of his imagination. Even the lines on her dress glowed a bit. He set the drinks down on a nightstand, then turned to her; she stood with her back to him, looking at him over her shoulder, that sultry smirk on her face. He moved her thick dark hair to the side, and undid the button on the back strap, noticing the peculiar tattoo between her shoulder blades. It felt familiar, like he should know it, but he couldn't place it exactly. It was an odd looking heart, almost a triangle.

With the upper strap undone, Sin slipped out of the dress, pulling each sleeve down off her shoulders and over her hands, then letting the dress pool at her feet. She wore no bra, and Blanc made no move to step away as she undid the laces on the sides of her black shorts, letting them pull apart as she bent over to pull them down, still in her odd heels, purposefully pressing her now bare backside against the hardened bulge in his pants. She stepped out of the shorts without taking off her heels, and without standing back up. "See something that interests you, Blanc?" He needed no further prompting.

He woke later, checking his watch, which in his haste he'd neglected to remove. Sin had eventually gotten out of those heels of hers, though she never took off the choker or anklet. They'd spent several hours enjoying themselves in every way two young people could while in various stages of undress, and then slept for several hours, falling asleep in each other's arms. They'd woken a few times for repeats, and it was better every time, for both of them. As he stirred again, she did with him. "Mmm… what time is it?"

"About 7 am. I need to leave soon." She reached over and handed him his scroll. "Call in sick. Stay with me today."

"All right." For once, Blanc was going to put himself before the mission.


	18. Chapter 18

**Blanc's room, that evening**

Blanc had spent the day with Sin, most of it in bed or around in her suite. They'd ordered room service when they got hungry, drank together from the wet bar, but when he'd asked her to dinner, she'd declined, saying she had business to attend to with the partner she'd missed the night before. He'd said his goodbyes, after another glorious round of pleasure for them both, then made his way back to beacon, leaving her to get ready to meet her partner.

He'd returned to several messages on his scroll, starting calm, becoming concerned, and finally quite angry. He'd need to call them back; Jaune and Pyrrha, Ruby, and Ozpin, who he really wanted to put off as long as possible. He called Pyrrha back first, catching her the rest of team JNPR at dinner. He could tell they had questions, so Pyrrha invited him to dinner. He let them know he'd join them, then headed out the door. He'd likely find Ruby there as well, which left him with Ozpin. He sent a note to the headmaster, telling him he'd meet with him later that evening, then left his rooms for the dining hall. Before arriving, Ozpin had replied with an invitation to a morning meeting instead, which he accepted.

He'd been on the ragged edge after nearly killing Cardin, but Jaune had talked him down. It wasn't a good feeling to be caught so emotional; out of control and filled with rage. He'd sat for hours in that tree waiting on Jaune and his attackers, plenty of time to calm down from having seen Pyrrha broken in despair, and he'd not calmed at all. Blanc had been prepared to fight Ozpin to kill them, and when logic and his father's voice had turned him away from that confrontation, he'd needed space to find his way back to balance. Instead he'd found a woman and set the entire matter aside. He felt great, but he wasn't balanced.

They hadn't exchanged contact information; a subtle way to indicate that what they had was passionate but casual. No strings. He could live with that; he had enough to worry about without adding a long-distance relationship to it. He couldn't help but feel disappointed, however. She had been a singular and incredible woman. Maybe he'd run into her again, though she was visiting on business so it seemed unlikely. it was an entirely strange and euphoric feeling when he was with her. There were no extraneous expectations, no hang-ups or strings or drama to overcome. Just mutually enjoying each other to the fullest. Sure, it'd been almost entirely sexual, but there was chemistry there... for him anyway. She seemed more circumspect. Come to think of it, their night hadn't really been very romantic; he'd simply felt free from the burden of who he was and what he had to do. Blanc began to wonder if part of this... infatuation... was simply that and not something more.

No, she definitely had something more. A heat that was both soothing and arousing. She'd given, and taken, seemingly without reservation, but her mind and her emotions were her own. Blanc accepted that he was probably just a one-night stand - a good one, all things considered since she'd asked him to keep going the following day, and potentially a booty-call, but she'd not taken any contact information from him, nor he from her. And that still left thing with Yang up in the air; there was definitely something there still as well, even if it was new for the fiery blond.

Blanc entered the dining hall, and spotted team JNPR at the same table as team RWBY, chatting away. Pyrrha caught him coming in and waved him over. He waved back, pointed out going to pick up his food first, then left. He picked up about twice the normal amount he usually ate - Sin and he hadn't really spent much time refueling, and joined the others.

"So, where'd you go? We checked your room to make sure you were okay, and even after banging on the door for half an hour, and calling over and over, nothing." Jaune's tone was concerned, his left eyebrow raised in question, and the rest of the conversation stopped to listen. "Ah, I needed some space to think and ... cool down. Headed into Vale to blow off some steam."

"Doing what, beating random Valesians?" Yang's comment was said in a joking tone but he could tell there was concern behind it. He guessed Jaune must've told them something about what happened. Blanc didn't know what'd happened with CRDL so he couldn't really talk about it; they'd need to get some sort of story together because he wasn't ready to read RWBY in on the mission. He was pretty sure he'd never be ready. Blanc noticed Blake's interest, though she was trying to appear as if she was reading. He doubted anyone was fooled; she wasn't very subtle about it.

"I hit a club someone told me about. Junior's. You know the place?" Yang's interest spiked. "That the kind of place you like to hang out, Blanc?"

Blanc shrugged. "I'd never been there before, wanted to see what it was like. The booze wasn't watered down and the music was ok. Bit of a sausage fest, if you know what I'm saying." Pyrrha touched his arm to get his attention. "You didn't come home. We tried again in the morning." Simple statement, but it said a lot, both about how concerned they were, giving him a feeling of affection he didn't know he was missing in his life, and also forcing a question without saying it directly. Score one for Pyrrha; Blanc felt obligated to answer.

"I uh... met someone there." Yang looked a bit startled. The part of him that was still smitten with her swooned a bit at the interest and thought perhaps he saw a touch of jealousy. "It was strictly casual. Didn't even get her digits." Yang turned away from him. Jaune responded with "Wow... dude, you were gone all day. That whole time you were..." He trailed off, but Blanc wished his father would keep his mouth shut. He could see Yang flinch. "I think that's between her and I, frankly. I don't pry into what any of you do romantically."

Strictly speaking, that was true, but it was also a cop-out. Blanc was well aware, though none of them would be aware that he knew, of what Pyrrha and Jaune had been up to. Well, maybe he wasn't. Fooling around could mean a lot of things, especially to someone as inexperienced as they appeared to be. "For example, what had you taking a walk last night, Jaune?" Pyrrha's eyes widened and she blushed, but Jaune began to stammer. Finally, he responded. "Point taken. Shutting up now." Blanc didn't smirk at them; it would be cruel.

"Listen, we need to talk about what happened, but this isn't the place. I wanted you guys to know I was okay and that I didn't go off the deep end and throw myself from a cliff or feed myself to an ursa or something, but I'm fine. I'm actually feeling pretty good." Yang still wasn't looking at him, and now appeared to be getting ready to leave. Ruby noticed. "Yang?"

"I... I've got something I need to do. I'll see you guys later, okay?" With that, she left. "Yang? ... she left her bag." Blanc, giving it little thought, volunteered to take it to her, then picked up the bag, leaving his mostly uneaten food behind to search for the blond brawler. It didn't take long to find her, she wasn't more than 5 meters from the doors to the dining hall, sniffling.

"Yang? Are you okay?"

"What do you care? You got what you wanted in Vale from that skank." Yep, she was jealous. Part of Blanc was pleased, but another part hurt for her. Her back was still to him, but rather than turn away from her, he stepped up and wrapped an arm around her, turning her into his chest, his arm slipping behind her head and pulling her into the crook of his neck to offer her a place to hide her crying.

"Shhhh... I do care. I care a lot. What happened wasn't something I planned... I just... I needed to get away. I was going to hurt them - I lost complete control. If Jaune hadn't stopped me I would have killed him; maybe killed them all. I needed to find what made me human again." She pulled away and looked at him, eyes watery and bloodshot. Her hand was on his chest, tracing the same scar she'd stroked before. She looked down at it, then up at him, then she stretched her head forward, eyes closing, lips puckered. Blanc should have turned away, but instead he met her, first in a chaste kiss, then as their passions flared, he pulled her tighter to him, stroked her lips with his tongue, and she opened for him. They kissed that way for a few minutes, stopping to take a breath and resuming.

"I feel like I've done this with you before; like I've done so much with you. I feel like I know you, but... how can I know you like this? Why do I feel like I trust you, and like you're mine and you just cheated on me?"

Blanc pulled back, taking his arms from around her and rubbing his neck, in the way Jaune did when he was nervous or embarrassed. Yang noticed that, and felt more confused. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Yang... there is a lot to tell you but... we're not ready. I want to talk to you and Ruby and the rest... I just need time. I shouldn't have done that - kissed you like that."

Yang looked smug. "You loved it. Don't pretend you didn't. No one can resist these lips." Blanc smirked back but didn't deny it. "Are you giving me an open invitation to do it again?"

Yang turned serious, and replied. "Yes. I don't know why or how but yes, I am. I don't want you going into Vale or starting to date Pyrrha or Weiss or Velvet or whatever. I want you to be mine, to be yours. I don't want to wait anymore." Blanc took her back into his arms. "All right. I think I do too."

She traced the scar on his chest again. "I need to know what happened to you to make you like this. It doesn't have to be now, but I need to know." She turned less serious. "So I can beat their ass, of course." Blanc chuckled. "Okay. I promise. Not tonight, though." He took her by the hand, and led her off, toward his rooms. "Oh, and what do you have planned for us tonight, Mr. Arc?"

"A bit of time on my couch - fully clothed, and some serious making up for lost time making out."

Yang grinned. "I like a man of action. Lead the way."

And so he did.

* * *

 **Beacon Tower, the following morning**

Blanc had another great night, putting him into a very good mood. He'd kept to his word, though Yang had reached under his clothes a few times; stopping when touching random unknown scars seemed to be about to break the mood. They'd kissed, made out, and talked nonsense until he'd walked her home. Now, Blanc was on his way up to Ozpin's office to meet with him and Glynda Goodwitch, for their agreed upon appointment. He wasn't sure what to expect; he'd maybe get chewed out over stabbing Cardin and threatening to cut his throat, though that would likely escalate into an argument over allowing the bully to continue to behave like a grimm until things had resulting in the planned attack on Jaune. He expected to be debriefed and informed as to the official story and the disposition of team CRDL and it's members.

The elevator car arrived, and Jaune stepped off into Ozpin's expansive office at the top of the tower. "Greetings, Mr. Arc. Ms. Goodwitch is on her way up as well." The second elevator set opened and Glynda stepped off to join them. This time, she stayed with Blanc on the other side of the desk from Ozpin. If it startled the man, he didn't show it, merely lifting his mug to his face and taking a noisy slurp. "Can I offer either of you anything." Glynda waved off, but Blanc asked for water. After getting resettled from providing Blanc his drink, Ozpin began.

"We're meeting today to talk about what happened, what we'll say happened, and what's going to happen, both to team CRDL, and yourself." Blanc looked at the headmaster quizzically. "Is this going to be a disciplinary hearing, Headmaster?" Glynda interupted. "No, Mr. Arc. Blanc... may I call you that?" Blanc nodded. "I think we should go through the beginning of the meeting before we talk about what is going to happen, going forward, but this is really more about scrutiny. We believed you when you showed us what you could do and told us about what was going to happen, and none of us feel we can afford to sacrifice that." She finished staring at Ozpin, giving Blanc the impression there'd been a disagreement over this, which led to her opposing Ozpin. Either she was on this side of the desk because she was on the outs with him, or because she was supporting Blanc. Her statement lead Blanc to think it was the latter.

"Blanc, since the time of the great war and the beginning of the Vytal festival, hunter on hunter killing has been one of the greatest and most prosecuted crimes in all of Remnant. The event, colloquially called 'fragging', has to be discouraged with every fiber of everything we do. When hunters and huntresses are in the field, depending on others, they have to have complete trust in their team, in the people they are working with, and to have that trust betrayed is considered the ultimate crime a hunter can commit, beyond simple murder or even treason." This was, surprisingly, news to Blanc. It wasn't that such killings didn't happen in his time, but rather than it had become somewhat common place until both sides had been ground down in the war and the only enemy left was the grimm, winning on every front. The look of surprise on his face was noticed, leaving Goodwitch and Ozpin both shocked. "This is a surprise to you?"

"Frankly, yes. While I was growing up, this sort of betrayal was pretty common to hear about. Someone would change sides for whatever reason, and stab their teammates in the back, literally, before leaving. It wasn't until late in the war, when Salem died and the other side completely collapsed, that such things ended." Blanc was very familiar with that sort of betrayal. "It wasn't always 'fragging' though. People would sell each other, or their families, out. Turn whole towns into slaves. It was completely chaotic; brother would turn on brother." They were silent for a while, contemplating such a thing. "Toward the end, when it looked like there would be no way to beat her, you could almost understand it. Whole groups; towns, hunter teams... they'd switch allegiance to survive. We forgave them at the end; there weren't enough people left and we had to stand together to stop the grimm. Not that it mattered, in the end. We still lost." Blanc's good mood was gone; he stared at the ground, trying to control his emotions.

Ozpin sighed. "Never the less, as it is right now, we cannot tolerate such activities in any way."

"So, you plan to expel me?"

"Not at all, Mr. Arc. As Ms. Goodwitch stated, we need to handle this without that level of scrutiny. Expulsions are noisy affairs; everyone sees it as their business. Unfortunately that ties our hands with regard to Messers Winchester, Thrush, Bronzewing, and Lark. They have attempted to attack an unarmed student on the grounds, so we cannot allow them to stay, but to expel them officially would be quite noticeable, and commented upon." Blanc cocked his head. "So, you want me to kill them now?"

"NO. Not at all, Mr. Arc. Before we talk about what will happen with them, I'd like to hear directly from you what happened. We know what Jaune Arc has to say about the matter, and what we were able to get from his four assailants through interrogation. We'd like to hear your side of it."

"Is this going to be recorded? I'll need to discuss... sensitive issues."

"No, only the three of us will hear this, though we may speak of it with certain... discrete partners who are aware of Amber's situation and your efforts to resolve the coming issue."

"Very well. Two nights ago I received a call, at about 3:43 am. My scroll shows the call even though the CCT system doesn't; you're welcome to check the incoming call log yourself." He handed over his scroll to Glynda, who checked through it and found the item. "The call was from Pyrrha Nikos, asking me to join her at the Hospital because Jaune had been found severely injured; too injured for the Beacon clinic." Ozpin raised his brows, clearly more interested and a bit surprised. "We talked, she told me that they'd found him beaten and bleeding, and he'd been evacuated to the hospital in Vale when emergency personnel had arrived. A little while later, the doctor working on the case informed us that Jaune had died from cardiac arrest due to blood loss. Pyrrha was broken; if you're at all observant then you know she's infatuated with him. I believe they've begun a romantic relationship, which I encouraged." Glynda nodded, though Ozpin said nothing.

"They inquired as to if there was anything I could do, so I retrieved some equipment I'd been preparing for coming events, and transported myself back to the earliest possible time of Jaune's attack. He'd been alone at the time and no one was sure when he'd been attacked, nor did they know by who." Ozpin interrupted. "He left his scroll in his room. I only found you as quickly as I did because you had yours with you when the altercation occurred."

"You can track us with those?" Ozpin slurped and then replied. "It's useful at times. We keep track of our students when they're near areas where grimm might dwell." Blanc saw the logic, nodded and continued.

"I arrived too early; a few hours too early as it turned out. I didn't know when, only that there were no blood stains or body on the ground, so it had not happened yet. So I climbed into a overhanging tree from where I knew Jaune's body was found, and waited. CRDL showed up, being directed to set up an ambush by Cardin Winchester."

Goodwitch asked him a question. "Why did you wait until Mr. Arc was there, being attacked?"

"I still wasn't certain it was them, and in all honesty, I planned to kill them. Their attack jeopardized everything; I couldn't simply defeat them and let them go back, lick their wounds and try again. We've already had one altercation this year, and I see them harassing and bullying other students constantly; why you tolerate that I'm not sure but I couldn't afford to be seen confronting them all the time. I had stopped Jaune and team JNPR from getting into a fight with CRDL over bullying in the dining hall earlier this year. So, I planned to take them out permanently. But I don't want to kill anyone if I can avoid it; I've been trained to protect human life whenever possible. There simply aren't enough people left in the future to afford to kill them off unnecessarily. I had to be sure it was them; that they'd struck those blows that had killed my fa.. my friend."

Ozpin continued for him. "So, you lay in wait, they set up their ambush, and..."

"Jaune came along not long after. I suspect they'd been following him, checking out the path he was going to take. They must've figured out he would be on the outskirts of campus, near the Emerald Forest, so that's where they setup their ambush. Not likely to be discovered or help to come. I've no doubt their intention was to kill him, or leave him for dead. Jaune passed under the tree I was hiding in; Cardin stepped out from his cover, pulled his mace back to swing a horizontal blow at Jaune's head, so I dropped and used my aura to block the strike, and then proceeded to disarm and incapacitate the attackers. Jaune, while unarmed, defeated Sky Lark. All in all, I'd say the fight was over in less than two minutes. I guess you made good time after all, Ozpin." Ozpin simply slurped his beverage. "You arrived after that."

"What drove you to stab Mr. Winchester in the legs?"

"Honestly? I could tell you it was to incapacitate him, and it did do that, but I wanted him to suffer. He'd let his pride and selfishness lead him to murder a fellow student, which would have set our efforts to prevent the catastrophe spiraling out of control. We'd have lost Pyrrha, and thus the true Fall Maiden, and with that, humanity itself in time. I admit, I was angry. And yes, I would have decapitated him if it weren't for Jaune. You couldn't have stopped me." Ozpin raised his eyebrow but didn't reply.

Blanc sighed. "It's for the best that Jaune did; he was right. We can't afford the scrutiny four dead or missing students would cause."

"Very well. I'm satisfied with your answers and believe them honest, and frankly, I can't blame you for your reaction. I'm glad your father was able to talk you down where I could not. Now, regarding the disposition of team CRDL. Obviously, we cannot keep them here. Mr. Winchester's father is a man of considerable political and economic influence, here in Vale and elsewhere. Fortunately, he is very image conscious; the scandal of his son being implicated in an attempted fragging, even as a student, is not something he could afford. None of the families could. Rather than expulsion, they have voluntarily withdrawn, their records have been privately marked as to the reason, which will prevent them from enrolling in the future, or at another hunter academy anywhere in Remnant, at least at this time. With time and good behavior, we may reconsider, but not until well after Mr. Arc has graduated. We have mutually agreed upon a story; Cardin was attacked by an Ursa. His team defended him, but all are deeply traumatized and choose to seek a safer career."

Blanc was impressed. "That's not a half-bad story for a quick cover-up. And Cardin and his boys; they going for it?" Glynda spoke up instead. "Their families will ensure that they do and that they keep quiet about it. That and the shame of being caught doing what they did."

"Mr. Arc. I hope you understand, but we need assurances that you won't be killing any students. We understand and accept your motivations, but that isn't acceptable."

"What can I do to assure you? You have to know that if things go according to plan, or don't, I will end up killing or trying to kill the attackers. Disabling them for trial will not be an option; you can't contain them. Some might be students or posing as such."

"Understood. I'm talking about your fellow students."

Blanc looked at them both, then sighed. "I don't see why I would, but should the situation arise, you must know that the mission comes first, before everything else. I'll kill if I must. If you are going to expel me, or 'quietly ask me to leave', go ahead. It won't change things."

"No, Mr. Arc, I suppose it won't. Ms. Goodwitch and I will have to accept your good will. Please note, however, that we both have a responsibility to this school and our charges; right now that aligns our goals. Should those goals come out of alignment... we will oppose you." Blanc nodded.

"Oh, one final thing, Mr. Arc. I noticed that your total aura is now a significant amount weaker." Blanc nodded. "It's a side effect of traveling into the past; doing so consumes part of my aura potential."

"You mean, this thing you do eats your soul? And you do it like a parlor trick?" Glynda was in her angry gramma mode, again.

"Well, yes, but only when I do it for a significant period or a significant distance. The amount of mass moved is also a factor. The small shifts I do have such a small cost you can't even see it in the digital number representation until after I perform hundreds of them. Even moving my body and equipment a meter or so and back in the past a second or so is negligible. Several hours? Much more expensive. There seems to be an exponential curve in the cost."

Ozpin finished slurping. "So, what you are saying Mr. Arc, is that there won't be another chance. If you fail to complete your mission, you won't have enough of an aura left to try again?"

"Correct. Either way, it's over. This is our one shot. If there's nothing else..." Blanc excused himself and left. Glynda Goodwitch had unshed tears in her eyes. "Glynda, he did what he had to do. He is, above all, a good man. The kind of man we need now."

"I know. I just wish he didn't have to pay such a price."

Ozpin slurped his beverage, and said nothing in reply, as his deputy excused herself.

* * *

I am reading your comments and taking the constructive criticism from them (and I've gone back to edit mistakes. Not sure how Glynda got turned into Glenda other than a bad spellcheck run). I don't want to make a habit of writing ANs for every chapter or responding directly to reviews from people with no way to comment back, but I do want to say a couple of things. Blanc is intentionally flawed; he makes mistakes and he's only got the one chance at this. That's a fundamental part of the story. He doesn't get to iterate on it to perfection. He's not going to be able to raise an army in the time he has. He's got his flawed plan, parts of which he's breaking for his own personal issues, and he's also an unreliable narrator of a sort (which you can tell when he doesn't recognize a certain character who says to call her 'Cin' but instead he calls her 'Sin'.) He also doesn't have perfect information (such as not knowing about Blake or what certain elements of the opposition look like). Things were withheld from him as well. That secrecy and it hurting the overall goal is another central theme of the story. So far no one's commented that the transitions into dream/memories are disruptive, so I'll continue using that device. Please, continue to give me reviews, especially with constructive criticism. It does mean a great deal, even if I don't take your advice.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.


	19. Chapter 19

**Beacon Tower, Training room, later that day**

Pyrrha slashed Milos down onto Blanc, hitting his left tonfa, then extending the blade into spear, forcing the him to duck his head to the side. Her shield deflected his quick strike from the right, pushing it outward and away from her, but he was within her guard, so she kicked out, pushing him back and getting distance, drawing the spearhead back into her shortsword and going back to her guard stance. Whatever else Blanc might be, he was well trained, quick, and decisive. They were ignoring semblances again, mostly because she could strip him of weapons but how would she stop him from going back into time and defeating her? Even so, he seemed to have some precognition about what she was going to do, though she supposed that might be training and observation.

He didn't waste breath on words; Pyrrha was everything she'd been made out to be. Ruthlessly efficient, dynamic, aggressive and extremely competent. She'd seen though his feints and honey-trap weaknesses, and she'd compensated for his variable weapons the way he'd compensated for hers, but he'd been specifically trained to fight against her styles, and she'd only seen him quickly defeat the much less experienced students in Goodwitch's combat class. He admitted to himself that he was beyond impressed; he was going to gush when this spar was over.

Despite his aura reserves being reduced again, he still have almost twice her strength; significantly lower than Jaune at this point, but relatively larger than almost anyone else. She had him to just above red. He'd given some hits back as well, but far fewer, and not for a lack of trying. She was simply better than him.

She paused, then said "Okay, Let's do semblances and finish this up." He considered it, then nodded. No one present was unaware of the basic nature of what he could do, but they'd not seen it before, and he was certain that it would be startling.

He felt the beginning of her magnetic pull on his tonfa, but it was too late, the glyph was already begun, and his first strike had already broken her concentration as his future dopple-ganger struck her, reducing her aura. She responded with a block to trap the blade using her shield, but she was struck again as a second doppleganger struck from the opposing side. She decided to retreat, flipping over them both, only for a third to cut off that escape route with a slash that just missed her. The other attackers were gone but were already reappearing elsewhere, stricking behind her guard. Despite using her magnetic polarity to pull the weapons away the new attackers always had theirs and struck. Less than a minute after allowing the use of semblance to finish the sparing match, she was in the red and it was over.

She was panting when he came up to congratulate her, this after-images disappearing behind those damnable complex glyphs. "Well done! You had me; I've never fought someone so skilled before."

"Yes... well..." she was still trying to catch her breath. "I... I've fought multiple attackers before but never like that." Blanc rubbed the back of his neck. "I know, it's really not fair. I know what you're going to do because I've already seen you do it, I'm in a different place, and whatever you just did to me never happened. I'm basically invulnerable as long as I keep it up; I just keep resetting everything. You'd have to get me before I started the glyph."

Jaune broke out of his shocked stupor and came up to them. "Oh man, that was incredible." He was gushing where Blanc had thought he would. "I've never seen Pyrrha have to work so hard. If she hadn't let you do that... that thing you did at the end, you were done." Blanc nodded, acknowledging that she was definitely the better fighter between them; probably the best he'd ever seen. "She does seem to have an instinct for it."

Nora was squealing, having rushed over and picked Pyrrha up in a bear hung, swinging her around like a doll. "THAT WAS GREAT!" Ren was more circumspect. "Blanc, how often can you do that? You did that to me, could you do that for Pyrrha?" Blanc shrugged. "Well, I can. The problem is that its disorienting. I've trained to use it for almost a decade. That shocked feeling you had when you saw yourself? That's normal. She'd feel that for quite some time. And she couldn't steer it herself; I'd have to do that for her. It's useful if I want to pull someone out of a dangerous situation, or we've pre-planned something, but I can't make her do with it what I can do with it, because I can control when and where I do it and how often, and she has to rely on me to do it for her. Having the same brain makes what I did work." Ren nodded, understanding the limitations as Blanc laid them out. "I've tried weaving the glyph with dust but it doesn't work. When you activate it, it just glows and does nothing else. You need the mind who created the glyph to control it, I think. It's all very speculative."

By then Pyrrha had recovered. "Well done, Blanc. It's been a long time since anyone has defeated me. I was certain I could just disarm you."

"Well, you could if I let you do it before the glyph began, but I didn't."

Jaune hugged her, then gave her a quick peck on the lips. The pair had become a couple, but were being careful with their public displays of affection. Given how close Ren and Nora stood, and the look between them when Jaune had kissed his red-haired love, Blanc guessed they'd finally gotten over their reluctance and paired up as well, but he decided it was best not to ask and let them say something if they wished. He figured the threat of Pyrrha's eminent potential demise might have been a motivator. Regardless, Blanc was happy for his father.

"So, you and Yang, huh?" Now he was a bit less happy. "Uh... that's between us... how did you... ?"

Now it was his turn to look stupid. Yang had been different when he'd known her in the future-before, less boisterous and more secretive. Perhaps it'd been a necessity of the times, or a desire for them both to keep what they'd been doing from his mother - fat chance of that, she'd apparently known almost immediately. But in this time period, not only had Yang been a big flirt and extremely extroverted, but she was a giant gossip. Jaune smirked, and Pyrrha responded "Who do you think would tell us, Blanc?"

"Well, shit. I don't know. I'm not one to talk about my personal life like this, especially in a group setting." He looked around at the four of them. "Is this really necessary?"

Nora yelled "YES. Tell us EVERYTHING!" Looking over at Ren for support, only to see the quiet man smiling and nodding.

"A gentleman never tells." Jaune sat on a nearby cabinet "Well then, we're in for a good story." Blanc looked betrayed but he'd walked into that one. Someone was going to say it; it just didn't have to be his dad. His dad... weird to even think about it. He was older than the man who would have been his father, far more mature, and yet... there was still something, some paternal love he could honestly feel.

"We're exploring our relationship; taking it slow. I'm... not very good at this sort of thing. I think the thing with the woman in Vale pushed her into acting... I dunno." Blanc wasn't really looking for advice. His past experience told him a lot about what Yang liked and didn't like, though he supposed she might not know those things about herself yet. "Anyway, whatever she might have said, I'm still not one to talk. I'm not sure where we stand, exactly, anyway."

He worked with Jaune on his semblance: how to activate it, control it, and use it in battle. Jaune preferred to use it to extend his blade or reinforce his shield. Blanc put subtle pressure on him to learn to use it to pierce aura fields, but he was resistant, and Blanc had no support from the others. "Okay. Remember, tomorrow is our first test of the greaves. We'll clear that pond area out in the Emerald forest; I've got the okay from Goodwitch." They nodded and went off in pairs. Blanc tidied up a bit, if just to give them time to depart, then took the elevator back down himself and stepped outside into the still warm early fall air.

"So, this is where you go? Doing group stuff with juniper?" Yang's grin told him she wasn't irritated, though perhaps a bit for the extra wait after having seen their friends leave ahead of him. While he was in his combat gear, she was still in her school uniform, having had a late specialty session. "Keep you waiting long?" He greeted her with a quick kiss.

"Nah, had a little chat with Jaune and Pyrrha before they ran off to catch up to Ren and Nora. Fancy a walk with a gorgeous woman?"

Blanc smirked. "Seen one nearby?" She hit him, a bit harder than a love tap but not so hard it'd leave a bruise - not a big one anyway. "I'd love to." He stuck out his arm for her to grab his elbow. She loved the part of him that had old-fashioned manners, like she'd seen her father do with Summer before she died, back when they were happy and Yang was smitten with an infant Ruby. She took his arm, and let him lead them off into the night for a romantic stroll. Her fingertips felt a scar in the elbow through the long sleeved shirt; he always wore things that covered his skin. They'd only been dating for a few days, so she'd not seen more than she had that day at the training pavilion, and he'd yet to speak of it. With her he wasn't so much reluctant as careful, taking it slow even when her hormones made her rage inside to touch and taste and feel and use. She'd had to take a cold shower every night since they'd gotten together, but she agreed not to force their pace faster. She'd had boyfriends before, even been a bit naughty with them, but she knew this was different; he was different and she wanted this to last, to endure.

Blanc was uncertain; he could hardly contain himself around her, now that he'd accepted this relationship again, but part of him knew it'd been wrong when he was in the future and she was twice his age, and it was wrong now, when he knew it couldn't last. He knew he'd either break her heart or leave her broken. His heart sung for her; he felt at finally at peace with himself in a way he hadn't since he'd accepted that to rid himself of the constant gnawing hunger of the stolen power to return to who it truly belonged, he'd have to die. And there lie the crux of the matter. He'd intended to avoid this because it would lead her only to pain, but he couldn't stop himself, especially when it was already hurting her to deny it. She'd made her intentions clear to just about everyone, and not even he could miss the signs she was giving him.

When their lips touched, chastely but firm, his mind was drawn back to memories of her panting in their intimacy, legs intertwined and the flush of orgasm on her face. She'd not been his first, unfortunately, but she'd put him back together after, using sex and then love to do it; something his mother couldn't do for him, though she wasn't doing anything for him anyway. He forced his mind away from that path; he didn't want to risk thinking about it and triggering an episode.

They came around a bend into the copse of trees where Blanc had defended Jaune from CRDL, and Yang pulled on his arm, leaning against a tree, and pulling him in for a more private kiss. They were both left breathless. "We haven't even gone on a date yet, Yang."

"Is that what you're waiting on? I swear, what does a girl have to do to get some action from the man she wants these days?" She was grinning at him, pecking him along his jaw and down his neck, trying to get him arroused. And succeeding at it quite well.

"Even if I was willing to go that far with you tonight, I wouldn't do it here."

Yang pouted. "Oh come on. Give me something, at least. I'm dying here."

"Yang, you act like you're some oversexed nymphomaniac."

She smirked at him, devilish and cute. "How do you know I'm not?" He stammered, then replied. "I just know. Come on, I'll walk you to your place."

"How about we go to yours instead? It's the weekend so Weiss wants to go into Vale tomorrow and great some people from Vacuo here for the Vytal festival - probably to scout out the competition. We could have our first date!" She ended with a sort of sing-song voice, and he couldn't resist, so he pulled her up from the tree, kissing her one more time, then led her off to his rooms.

The walk back was brisk; Blanc was thinking of anything but the body of the woman beside him. "So, what would you like to do when we're there? Dinner and a show? Hit a club and dance?" He noticed her eyes sparkle at that. "Dancing it is. Dinner first, though. I insist." She nodded at him in agreement. "Sure, sounds wonderful."

He started to turn toward her dormatory, but she pulled him back on the path to his. "Come on, the girls will be back in my room and I'm not done with you yet. I think I need a little something to keep me warm at night." He raised his eyebrow at her, but acquiesced, so they finished the journey to his rooms.

Nominally she was 17 to his 18, but entrance to Beacon was legally emancipation, with everything that came with it. The right to vote, drink alcohol and use other legal narcotics to a reasonable degree, and the legal age of consent was already 16, something which Ruby still fell under but no one else at Beacon would. She couldn't get married without her father's permission, but that wasn't likely to happen before she turned 18 anyway, and while hunters did tend to marry early compared to the general population, due to their shorter average lifespans, she wasn't in any rush and she didn't think Blanc would be either. And she wasn't going to get married just to get nookie anyway; she could get that elsewhere if that was his demand.

They finished getting to his door, getting more heated by the second, and she pushed him against it before he could unlock it with his scroll. She was very aggressive, finding his scroll in his front pocket by slipping her hand down the front of his jeans, rubbing him through his underwear while she sucked on his neck. "Yang... Yang... Let me at least open the door." She let him slip his scroll out by didn't remove her hand, gripping him now and beginning to stroke, causing him to misskey the code twice before the door finally opened. Once they were inside, she pushed the door closed with her foot, simultaneously pushing him back onto one of the couches. His back hit a box, but it shifted off easily to the floor as she climbed onto him, straddling his legs and grinding herself against him. He could feel how damp she was through her thin panties as she ground on him while trying to remove his duster, dropping his tonfa with it. Having removed the heavy armored coat, she began to undo the buttons on his shirt, a white button up. "Yang... come on babe, stop for a second."

Yang wasn't really listening; her hormones had taken over and she was pushing hard. He was now laying down, shirt unbuttoned and untucked, her eyes closed and her lips trailing down his jaw to his neck while she tried to unbutton his pants. Blanc began to push at her shoulders, trying to get her to look up at him and wake up from the fog of desire clouding her mind. Her lips his a scar across his collar bone and she stopped, opening her eyes and looking. It looked like teethmarks; someone had bit him and left the wound untreated, and his aura had been too weak to heal it properly when it happened. She rose up and looked at him, the fog dissipating. "Blanc... what happened? This isn't something you'd get training or from grimm. These are shaped like human teeth."

"They were. Can we not talk about it?" She could see he was ashamed. "We need to talk about it eventually. I think I'm going to keep coming across this stuff; I don't want it ruining the mood all the time." He sighed, then turned his head back and looked her in the eyes. "Look, you're pushing again so I'm glad it got you to pause, but we probably do need to talk about it. I just... I don't know how to talk about it and I'm afraid."

"Blanc, I didn't expect you to be a virgin or anything. You don't have to be ashamed if you were a bit of a man-whore or something." He shuddered underneath her, and she was a bit startled to feel some pleasure at what was obviously disturbing him. "I can't. It's not what you think... I... We used to... You understood... I just can't..." He was really freaking out, his head thrashing around, looking like he was trying to find a way to escape her, so she let him up.

He stepped over to a window, looking out of it at the broken moon, his shirt forgotten and his pants barely staying up on his hips. She didn't say anything, or move, wanting to give him space to calm and maybe talk about it, or tell her to leave, or something. He continued to stare, saying nothing, but his breath slowly calmed and the flush that had been sexual desire turned fear began to subside.

He didn't turn to her, but he began to talk. "My first sexual experiences were not voluntary. That's why I don't want to talk about it. That's why I need to go into this slowly. I want you; hell do I want you so badly, but I just need to ease into it. If... if that's too much to ask then maybe we should stop now." He still didn't turn, but she padded over to him, wrapping her arms around him and putting her head on his shoulder. She didn't say anything; what do you say when the man you think you love confesses that someone raped him? The bite mark on his skin must be from the rapist. She contained herself; all lustful thoughts now lost as she hurt for him and what he'd endured. His body was covered in scars; the ones on his back she could tell were whip marks, but lots of them were stab wounds, some of them rips and tears like hunters tended to get from the grimm when their auras got too low and the wounds didn't heal right. She didn't stroke his chest, thinking that reminding him of the scars across it, even if she was trying to tell him she still thought he was beautiful, wouldn't be the right thing to do at the moment. She held him and waited, staring at that broken moon with him, thinking of the broken man in her arms who seemed so strong but was really tormented.

He suddenly turned in her arms, wrapping his own around her. "Stay with me tonight? Just let me hold you, please?" She nodded, then pulled out her scroll and sent Ruby a quick message to let her know she'd be staying at his place. Ruby's quick reply seemed shocked. "you've only been dating a few days"

"not going to do it. ttyl but not sex. back before leaving 4 vale."

She didn't get a response back, and Blanc had left to go take a shower. She thought of slipping in with him, but decided that might send the wrong message to him. She relaxed on his bed, slipping out of her skirt and jacket, and taking off the tie, but leaving her shirt, bra, and panties on. She began opening his drawers, looking for something she could wear over her panties to sleep in when the door opened from the bathroom. She'd just bent over to check a bottom drawer, a blush on her face from having started with what turned out to be his underwear drawer.

"HOLY SHIT!... umm... damn you know how to make a man forget his own name. Hi, I'm some guy who must be a blithering idiot. Have we met?"

She stood up suddenly. "I was looking for some shorts to sleep in. Umm... I'm glad you like the view?" She turned toward him; he was only wearing a towel. "I forgot to take any clothes in with me." She was watching the water drip down from his hair and scalp, onto his chest and shoulders and run down past his naval into the silver-white hair toward his barely covered groin, and her panties were now dripping. The mood had shifted again, not because she'd forced it, but because of happenstance and mutual attraction.

Blanc covered the distance between them in a few strides, kissing her hard. She responded by running her hands down his back, under the towel, which fell, and grabbing his ass and squeezing him against her. He turned her toward the bed, laying her down, and began to kiss his way down her neck, into the cleavage revealed by her missing tie, down her shirt, pushing it up as he began to lick around her naval, continuing down to her panties and past. His nose sniffed her fragrance, now covering the room, and he knelt at the side of the bed, his face now between her legs as she stared at the ceiling, feeling his tongue prod her through the wet gusset. "I can do this for you. Would you like that?" She started off by nodding, then when he didn't move, she realized he couldn't see. "Oh yes... please Blanc..."

He reached up, his hands stroking the outside of her thighs while he nuzzled the inside of them, then took hold of the sides of her panties, and pulled them down her long toned legs, revealing her to him. He wasted no time, leaving them hooked around both ankles as he pushed his face into her core and began to lick, suck, and nibble, his fingers joining his tongue in pleasuring her. She freed one foot, the wrapped her legs around his head, pulling him into her core. "Oh Blanc, yessssss... eat me baby..." And he did, until her oversensitivity made her feel like she was going to pee rather than have an orgasm. She pulled him up to her, kissing his wet face and tasting herself on him, feeling his manhood, hard as steel, pressing against her.

"I want to, I really do, but I need this to go slower Yang. There's a lot you don't know about me; things I think you should know before we go any further. Tonight might have been a mistake but I just couldn't stop myself, and you smell and taste so good I feel like I could do this with you all day and never tire of it." She smirked at him. "I'd like to return the favor, stud."

"Not tonight. Just let me hold you, please."

She backed into his bed, lifting the covers for him; a clear invitation to join her as they were, so he did, wrapping her in his arms as she turned away from him, his penis still hard; she raised a leg and then trapped it against her core, feeling the exciting warmth and bathing him in her juices. "What... what are you doing?"

"Neither one of us will sleep with you hard like this. At least let me do this, then we can rest, okay?" He relented, and she began to shift her ass backward and forward, slowly at fist, masturbating him with her thighs and the lips of her vagina, lubricated in her wetness. It didn't take long until he came undone, spraying his own essence between her legs. She released him as he began to soften, then reached down with her fingers to wipe it up, bring it to her lips to taste. "You taste pretty good yourself, especially mixed with me." He groaned, reaching behind him and picking up his towel, and beginning to dry them both, starting with her thighs. "You keep talking like that and you'll have to do a repeat."

She turner her head back, a devilish smirk on her face, and looked him in the eye. "As good as you taste, next time I want you in my mouth."

"Yang, stop. It's late and you have somewhere to be in the morning."

She replied. "Party pooper. Fine. And we do need to talk about things... but thank you for this, tonight." She grabbed the towel from his hands, threw it to the ground behind them, then pulled his hand around her, putting it on her breast and making him squeeze it briefly. "I want you to know I don't mind if you touch me here. Good night, lover."

He tweaked her hardened nipple, causing her to gasp, but settled down with her to sleep. "Sleep well, sexy." The were both quiet, thinking and feigning sleep for the sake of the other, until they both eventually did drop off.


	20. Chapter 20

**Forever Fall Forest, 16 years after the fall of Beacon**

"And what do we have here?" Blanc turned, unable to see the speaker, Mercury Black's corpse still fresh below him. He couldn't sense anything, no odd noises other than the voice, no scent in the air, no... wait, red eyes, everywhere. Grimm. "Fear not, my sweet, they are mine."

He sees her, face white like the bone armor on a grimm, but moving. Red eyes, no red irises. Black clothes, or skin, or both. It's hard to tell. White hair, wrapped up in black. Some sort of ... shadow following her that throbs and twitches. Her lips do not move as she speaks; she's talking in his mind.

"Yes, I am. I've come a long way to gather you, to take what's mine and..." Blanc attacked, charging at her and swinging his tonfa around to strike. The shadow rose up and blocked him, forming a tentacle and wrapping around the tonfa, pulling it from his grip. Blanc retaliated by cutting it apart with his left tonfa, turned sword, only for the tentacle to fade back into shadow, his assailant smirking. More tentacles rose, putting Blanc on the retreat, slashing as the shadows gripped his legs. Three tentacles formed sharp points and charged, plunging into his chest, hip, and eye, but Blanc's future-doppleganger struck his target from behind, shocking her as she turned to face her new assailant, only for the corpse of her target to evaporate into time. "Interesting. You're far more intriguing than just the maiden's powers that I came for... perhaps I'll take some more time with you.." She wrapped him in another shadow tentacle, only for him to strike her from behind again, having retrieved the tonfa she'd taken from him.

But she was prepared for it this time, wrapping him up and squeezing him. He tried to form the glyph but couldn't, surrounded completely and suffocating. A tentacles pushed into his mouth, his nose, his ears, his navel, even his rectum.

 **Blanc's room, the following morning**

Yang woke him up, shaking him. "Blanc! It's just a dream... It's just a dream. Wake up baby. WAKE UP!" He was startled, almost striking her before he realized where he was and what was going on. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

"You were screaming. Just... screaming." Blanc shuddered, the memory of it still fresh from his dream. The sheets were soaked, and his eyes still had that wild fear of being suffocated. Yang pulled him to her, holding him close. "What happened? What did you dream?"

"Memory... it was a memory, they all are..." he was panting like he'd run a marathon, but he was no longer screaming. "I don't dream... I remember. Everywhere... she was..."

"Can you talk about it? Would that help?" Blanc pulled back and looked at her, still wild eyed and confused. "She was suffocating me, penetrating me everywhere... covered in darkness. I couldn't escape..." Suddenly, he pulled away from her, stumbling and then crawling into the bathroom. She heard the sound of retching and followed him into the bathroom. She found him puking in the toilet, dry heaving after having emptied whatever was in his stomach. "Blanc, what can I do?"

He looked at her, swallowed back the bile. "I'm sorry... we need to talk about this but I can't right now. Go ahead and go with Ruby and your friends; I'll be ok." She looked uncertain but helped him up. He went to brush his teeth, so she gathered her things. He joined her as she was leaving, still nude, giving her a hug and a kiss, though not quite as deep as it might have been, owing to what he'd just been doing. "I'll see you later, okay? We still on for our date?"

She nodded, then left, an upper classman walking by and seeing them but saying nothing about it, just a momentary pause. Blanc watched her go down the all to the elevator, then shut the door and went to shower and change for the day.

 **Vale Docks, that afternoon**

Weiss was talking about students arriving from Vacuo and beign a welcoming committee, but Yang was distracted. Ruby didn't know what'd happened with her sister and Blanc. Blanc seemed like a good guy, but now she was wondering what he'd done that had her sister like this. "Yang? What's wrong?" Yang stopped Ruby and let Weiss and Blake continue forward. "Ruby, I'm sorry. It's Blanc."

Ruby looked worried. "What happened? Did things go too far?" Yang scoffed. "Hardly. If anything, it didn't go as far as I'd like. He wants to go slow... I guess that's okay, we've got time, right? It's not that. Something happened to him and ... well it's not really my story to tell and I don't know much about it." Yang and Ruby noticed that Blake and Weiss had veered off to the side in front of a trashed storefront with police tape. By the time the pair caught up to their friends, they were already arguing.

"So then they're very misguided! Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale. Hmm..."

Ruby interjected. "What's going on?" Weiss explained that the police believed the white fang had robbed the shop, then proceeded on a diatribe about the white fang and faunus, only to be interrupted by an outcry of "Hey, stop that faunus!"

Argument disrupted, team RWBY ran to the dock to see what was going on. A young blonde man, with a prehensile tale, lept from the ship and ran, eating a banana. When confronted by the police from the dust shop, he threw the banana peel into one of their faces as a distraction, and then ran. He winked at Blake and continued on. "Well Weiss, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes."

"Quick, we have to observe him!" Weiss led them off in pursuit. The turned a corner, then another, but Weiss had run into something and fallen. "No, he got away!" Yang pointed out to her that she'd knocked someone down.

"Salutations!" There commenced a stilted and odd conversation. The girl's name was Penny, and she seemed eager to meet them. "Take care, friend." And the team began to walk away to continue their day, only to be confronted by Penny appearing in front of them. "What did you call me?" Another odd conversation ensued, in which Ruby made a new friend.

 **Blanc's rooms, later that morning**

Blanc had cleaned himself up, got a bit of rest, then dressed and left for their morning test of Jaune's greaves. He took a large cargo bag with him, containing the finished remainder of Pyrrha's golden armor, complete with jump greaves and control bracers, as he'd named them. They were equally intricate to Jaune's, including the styling and decorative work, though he'd done his best to make the style closer to Pyrrha's current armor style. In addition, he'd added glyphs that would allow her to accelerate the movement of her calves, thighs, and forearms, though only a modest 10% increase for fear of injuring her when she trigged them. She wouldn't be able to coordinate them well enough to run faster without a great deal of practice, but she'd be able to increase her punches and kicks, as well as strikes with her sword or shield. He'd considered putting them into Jaune's design, but Jaune was not at her training level and was only likely to hurt himself. He'd also replaced Jaune's chestplate and pauldrons with a more protective set that while lacking the glyph protection of Pyrrha's cuirass would reduce injury and actually lower the weight carried when he wore them compared to his original white training set. Blanc often wondered that if his life hadn't been destined for this purpose, if he might not have chosen to do this sort of work as a profession. He'd originally begun doing it to spend more time with his beloved Aunt Ruby, who treated him the way he thought a mother should treat a child, and allowed him to return that affection. While her interests lay more in mechashift weaponry, Blanc had always had a keener mind for armor, though he did make and design weapons as well. The Opticor was not his design, but his shifting tonfa were.

Blanc's coat was less hot in the cooling fall weather, but the weight with the cargo bag, his Opticor locked to his back,and his tonfa in his coat made the hike to join JNPR all that more grueling. He was going to meet the team at their dormitory, which would allow Pyrrha to change into her new armor, not that he'd told them that beforehand. He was looking forward to seeing her in what he'd made for her; despite her love for his father, and Blanc's own feelings for Yang, he still found her very attractive in so many ways. He'd not replaced her headpiece but the cuirass would also guard her neck, down to her hips, and he'd engraved her emblem into the right hip plate in the exact position it was with her current sash.

He arrived to find them waiting for him in the lobby. "Hey Blanc. What have you got there?" Nora was the first to great him, followed by Ren. It seemed Jaune and Pyrrha hadn't left their room yet. After waiting with the odd couple a few minutes, he asked "Are they up there screwing around or what?" Nora giggled and replied "Probably less 'or what' given what they've been up to lately." Ren looked at her askew. "They've not progressed that far, to my knowledge, but Pyrrha was quite upset when Jaune was attacked. They have been spending more time alone together." They waited a few more minutes before Blanc grew impatient. "I am happy for them, really, but we have plans and I have plans later I need to get ready for. Will one of you go get them, and take Pyrrha this bag? It's got the rest of her armor in it - the new stuff I made for her." Nora was giddy to see it, so she volunteered, easily lifted the heavy bag, and left the two men alone.

"She must be a lot stronger than me. That bag weighed a ton."

Ren looked at him, a small smile on his face. "She's stronger than most people. It makes for an... interesting relationship." Blanc barked out a laugh. "I bet it does. Please, spare me the details though." They waited quietly another five minutes before Jaune joined the other men. "Sorry about the wait. Pyrrha is still putting on the armor and Nora is helping her." Blanc nodded and let Jaune settle down to wait with them. "Any chance you guys could get fisky-time over instead of keeping us waiting next time?" Jaune blushed but said nothing for a bit, then finally replied "I'll bring it up with her but... after what happened she's not wanted to be separated. She practically joins me when I go to the bathroom. I'd be cool with that if it were the shower, but I don't need someone supervising using the toilet." Blanc looked around; they were alone. "Dad, can we not talk about you having sexy-time? I know you're not older than me, which is weird as hell by the way, but it creeps me out thinking of one of my parents having happy-fun-time."

As if from the ether, Nora spoke from Blanc's shoulder in her usual boisterous voice. "Speaking of happy-fun-time, we saw you leaving with Yang last night. Good times?" Blanc jumped out of his chair, startled, then when his heart calmed down replied "I'm not going to talk about that. Do you guys understand the concept of personal boundaries at all?" Looking first at Nora, then Jaune, and finally Ren, Blanc accepted that they hadn't a clue what he was talking about. "Well, shit. That explains a lot."

Jaune's breath ceased as he looked back at the elevators from the lobby, followed by Ren, and a squeal from Nora that let Blanc know Pyrrha had arrived. He turned to see one of the most beautiful, and absolutely stunning sights he'd ever seen. Pyrrha looked like a golden goddess, prepared for war. Her red hair flowed in it's usual ponytail, but cascaded down the golden armor. She was blushing at the attention, but she also looked extremely confident, especially after seeing her lover slack-jawed and breathless. "Hello everyone."

Ren smiled. "You look magnificent Pyrrha." Nora grinned and nodded, but Pyrrha's attention was only on Jaune. "What do you think?"

"I think I've never seen anything so beautiful, except you without..." Blanc coughed to interrupt. "Let's keep that to ourself, okay DAD?" Jaune looked sheepish, but Pyrrha guffawed and promised Jaune he could see that other view later. Blanc rolled his eyes but said nothing, choosing not to exasperate the issue.

"I expected it to be heavier; it feels lighter than my old armor. I feel... faster?" Blanc smiled, then told Jaune to go put his own new armor on instead of what he was wearing while he talked to Pyrrha. Blanc watched him leave, along with Pyrrha, who was noticeably watching his ass. "He has a great ass, doesn't he?" Blanc sputtered. "Are you asking me?" She laughed. "No, I'm asking Nora."

"Well, I prefer Ren's but I can see why you'd be interested. His looks very squeezable, like Blanc's." To which she grabbed Blanc's ass cheek and squeezed, her fingers digging through the coat. "WHAT THE FUCK? YOU... you can't even see my ass with this coat on, Nora. And Ren's over there... grab his ass!" She smiled. "I fully intend to." And then she did just that. Blanc smacked himself in the forehead. "What have I gotten myself into..." Pyrrha suddenly appeared very interested in checking Blanc out, which both made him a bit squeamish, and to be frank, excited as well. "You do very much have Jaune's build, now that I look at you more closely. No wonder I initially found you very attractive as well." Blanc scratched the back of his neck. "Umm... thanks? I guess that's changed then?"

She smiled at him. "I'm with Jaune now. All according to plan, right? The funny thing is, even though I know you had planned this, it doesn't feel like it's forced or something we did because it was destined. It just feels so natural with him." Blanc understood; it was what he'd been hoping for by trying not to interfere. Part of him had felt the same way about his relationship with Yang, but he knew that for Pyrrha and Jaune, it was different. After Pyrrha's death, Jaune had been haunted, according to what his aunt Ruby told him. His father had dwelled on her, unable to let go. When they'd tried to make him, first with Ruby, and then with what happened with his mother, they all knew it wouldn't last. He'd never forget the woman who'd stolen his heart with a kiss and then pushed him away to go and die; he'd never have closure and his father had died still in love with a woman he'd only ever shared a few moments with, and only a short partnership of not quite a year. Blanc often wondered if his father had intentionally let Cinder burn him so he could be sure he wouldn't have to live a life without the woman he loved. The idea was romantic, he supposed, but depressing beyond belief.

Jaune returned wearing the new armor. It was white with silver accents, like his shield, and it didn't quite extend to cover him the way the cuirass covered Pyrrha, but the pauldrons made up for it by giving him better shoulder to neck protection than his previous set, and Jaune looked more energized by the lighter weight and the style congruity between all of his new armor. Jaune turned to Pyrrha, who's opinion he valued more than any other. "How's it look?" She took a serious look at it. "It looks like you wear it better, and that it gives you more upper body protection, without limiting your movement." Then she grabbed his ass, pulling him into her. "I can't wait to take it off you, however." Someone whispered 'get a room' but they released each other without losing eye contact. Blanc snorted, then said "Looks like we're ready to go clear the pond are and do our tests. Jaune, I've got an idea for a remake of Crocea Mors into a tower shield and hand and a half longsword." Jaune looked vaguely interested but didn't say anything, and the fivesome walked off to their morning tests in the Emerald forest.

 **Emerald Forest, late morning**

Clearing the area hadn't been too difficult, and with Ren and Nora as lookouts, both Pyrrha and Jaune had begun trials on their jumpboots and control surfaces. Surprisingly, Jaune go the hang of activating them first, though Pyrrha wasn't far behind, but she was much quicker to adapt the new sharpened edges of the pop-out blade-like objects into her fighting style. She also quickly adapted to the new strike speeds her quickened bracers and greaves gave her. The jump boots were another matter. Both made frequent trips into the pond, cutting out early or jerking around to quickly. Jaune's first launch had him flying up into the air over the pond, ill prepared, and his legs moving forward head of his torso, leaving him landing on the shallows of the other side on his back. The greaves were not water-tight, so they didn't hold water once they left the pond, but the mud did build up and several times both Jaune and Pyrrha had to rinse mud and other muck out of them. Both Blanc and Jaune would stare at Pyrrha's legs when she did this, long and toned, with just a hint of color, and while she did notice, she enjoyed the attention. It seemed as though she had more problems with having to rinse than Jaune, despite having more graceful landings. Ren was amused at his friend's antics, noting that Pyrrha was probably doing it intentionally for Jaune's attention, but no one besides her noticed Blanc's equal attention.

Luckily, none hit the ground hard. By early afternoon, Jaune had the hang of landing on the other side of the pond with regularity, and Pyrrha could land pretty close but still in the water. Amazingly, both of their auras held up to the repeated tests. Both promised to continue practicing regularly, and the group broke up as everyone had plans for some sort of romantic liaison that evening. Blanc had no doubt that Jaune and Pyrrha's would involve some sort of sexual trist, as Ren and Nora planned to go into Vale as well, though they'd be back later that night. "Much later" Nora had clarified with a wink to Pyrrha. Blanc accepted that his dad was likely going to get lucky and moved on. Jaune and Pyrrha had no trouble using their new near-flight capability to leave the other three behind as they rushed back to begin whatever plans they had, though Blanc figured they'd hold off for most of it until Ren and Nora left for Vale. Ren sighed. "We'll probably walk in on them again. At least they won't be taking up the bathroom." 'Yet' thought Blanc.

The group split up as Blanc made his way back to his rooms to get ready. He needed to put on some clothes suitable for clubbing, but he wanted to take his coat and tonfa, just in case. Yang had a habit of getting into fights and he wanted to be ready in case it happened to be a bad one. He called and made reservations; that cost him a bit since they were so late and he'd had to bribe them to get it, but he didn't want to risk them having to wait too long or ending up in a dump. And the bill would be footed by the Schnee Dust Corporation anyway, so he didn't much care. His grandfather would understand. And if he didn't, Blanc wouldn't live to worry about it anyway.

He slipped his coat on, his regular tonfa into the holders inside, then proceeded out to catch a ferry to Vale, hopefully in time to pick up some flowers. He remembered her favorite, and hoped they were available.

 **Vale Market District, late afternoon**

He walked up to Yang, in her tan vest and yellow crop top outfit she typically wore. She'd been there all day and hadn't returned to Beacon, so Blanc wasn't surprised, but he didn't mind. It wasn't really club material, but she looked good in it anyway and with how she looked, she could wear a brown paper bag and she'd still get in and have everyone's attention. They greeted each other with a kiss, Yang's smile wide and infectious. He grinned back at her and stuck out his elbow. She took it and allowed him to guide her to dinner.

"Woah. Isn't this a bit... pricey for a student?" She turned to Blanc, but he didn't seem to have a problem with it. "I had to bribe them to get reservations, even this early in the day, but don't worry about the cost. I've got it covered."

She snickered. "So you're rich or something?"

He shook his head. "I've got a wealthy benefactor - it's how I can afford to come to Beacon, and put on all these fancy duds for you." Blanc was wearing simple black slacks and a white button down shirt with collar, and his typical duster and boots. She did notice he was wearing a more fancy belt than normal. "Shiny. Nice to see a man get all spruced up for once." He took her gentle ribbing well. "I may have to touch up my eyeliner." She didn't check to see if he was wearing any, the sarcasm was obvious.

Remarkably, the restaurant was rather full. They had a table reserved, however, on a patio overlooking a canal. Small boats went by, some gondolas and paddleboats, a few larger passenger vessels that were more the size of a bus. The breeze was warm and soothing in the fall sun, and the trees lining the canal had bright yellows and oranges to compliment the greens and browns of the seasonal change. Blanc ordered them some wine, which raised an eyebrow until Blanc showed his Beacon ID on his Scroll. Studying at Beacon emancipated the student, and allowed them to drink as they were now considered adults. Yang grinned at him, but after taking a taste, decided she didn't much care for wine, or at least not red wine.

"Don't like the vintage, or don't like wine in general?" She shrugged. "I'm not sure, I may look like a party girl but I actually don't drink much - that's mostly my uncle." Blanc nodded along; that was something that'd changed over time - Yang was quite the drinker in the future-past. "Perhaps it's a taste that grows on you. My mother preferred this to other forms of alcohol; supposedly this vintage is good for the palate before dinner." He set his glass down, then reached across the table to take her hand from near her own. "Don't feel like you have to drink it on my account, and don't worry about the cost. I'm not paying for it anyway."

"Are you a kept man, Mr. Arc?"

"I do a bit of work that will make him a lot of money. You've seen the equipment I have - that's part of what it's for. It's how I afforded it, anyway. His company bought it; a good business venture with mutual benefits."

The waiter returned, so Blanc ordered an appetizer. They looked through the menus, making light talk about what looked good and what they liked or didn't, and ordered when the waiter returned. "So, how are things in RWBY? I know Ruby's your sister, but I don't know much about the other two in your team. Blake's your partner, right?"

"Yeah. They're good people. Weiss is a bit ... well stuck up but she grows on you. Blake likes to spend a lot of time reading and she's pretty quiet, although... nevermind."

"No, please. Tell me what's going on? Maybe I can help, or I can at least listen."

"Well, her and Weiss got into it this morning over this faunus guy and the white fang. Blake seems pretty sympathetic, and knowing the way the faunus get treated - I mean you saw Cardin with Velvet. What happened to him, anyway?" Blanc looked away and replied "I heard he had a change of heart about becoming a hunter. Maybe politics? He was that kind of asshole." Yang grinned at him, not at all put off by his language, but not picking up on the body language. Fortunately, she moved on.

"Anyway, Weiss was talking about being a victim and how it made her childhood rough. I mean, she's got a lot of money so how rough can it get, right? But, it doesn't sound like she had a happy family experience. I just feel kinda bad for her. And then Blake... " She trailed off, not knowing how or if she should say anything about what Blake had said. "Blake told you she was white fang?"

"You knew? How did you know that?" She started to scoot out. "Are you too?" Blanc's hand shot forward to take her own before she could cause a scene. "No, no. Please calm down. I just... I know things, and some things I don't. We can talk about that later when we're alone; I need to stop putting it off. There are things you deserve to know about me but I'm not white fang; never was. Blake's a faunus - you know that right?" Evidently, she didn't.

"Well tell me, Mr. know it all, what else do you know about my partner?" He sighed. "Not much, to be honest. I'll explain how I know that when we talk; it wouldn't make sense now without that. I didn't spy on her or join her in the shower or anything." Yang relaxed a bit at his sort-of-joke. "Well, I just don't know what to do, or if I should do anything. Blake took off, back to our dorm room I think. I wanted to be there and talk to her, but we had our date and I didn't want to miss that."

"If you want to cut this short so you can be there for her, I will understand. We can reschedule; might not be as nice a place next time, though."

"No, she'll be okay. She's got my scroll number if she needs me. Besides, I'm looking forward to getting hot and sweaty with you tonight." Double-entendre; that was a good sign. "Where are we going after, anyway?" She reached for her wine, taking a sip.

"You got a place in mind that you prefer? I've only been to Junior's so I thought we might go there." Yang spit her wine out, spraying his white shirt and the table. "You hang out at Junior's?"

Blanc began to dab as his shirt. "I wouldn't say that. I'm not from here, remember? It's the only place I've been; someone mentioned it once and I wanted to see it. Did you have to spit red wine on my white shirt?" She looked apologetic, picked up her napkin, and promptly began to help him, though mostly she was just feeling his chest up through the cloth. "How about your pants, do they need any help?" she said as she rubbed his nipple. "Yang!" he hissed at her, as her hand dropped into his lap, using the mostly dry napkin to dab at his crotch, then beginning to stroke him through his pants, teasing him. "I think I'll be okay."

"Are you sure? We could sip into the bathroom and I could check your underwear for staining."

"You're such a tease." She smirked at him. "Try me. I'm completely serious. We can go right now." She had a challenging smile on her face, and he suspected not only would she do what she said, but she'd pull him into a stall and do more. He answered her with a soft groan, a memory of her doing just that surfacing in his mind.

He was saved by the arrival of the appetizer, and the waiter's offer of a dust concoction guaranteed to get the stain out and dry quickly. Intrigued, Blanc followed the waiter, who took his shirt, applied a paste of sorts to the stain, then brushed it off a few minutes later. The shirt looked a bit wrinkled but otherwise as good as if it had just been cleaned. He thanked the waiter, promising himself that he would leave an excellent tip for extraordinary service, and returned to the table.

In the time he was gone, Yang had eaten the entire appetizer, including the garnish. She looked up at him, seeing his clean and dry shirt, and looked a bit disappointed. "I guess it really did work, huh?"

"This place has great service. Feeling a bit hungry?" He grinned at her and waved toward the empty platter. She shyly smiled back, demure for Yang, and then gestured at his plate, where a lone piece remained. "I did save you some. You should try it!" Blanc did just that, savoring the flavor. Before they could begin their conversation again, salads and bread were delivered. This occurred throughout the meal; they only were able to really talk much in between bites, but the food was excellent, Yang warmed up to the taste of the wine, and Blanc kept his promise to reward the excellent service, all on Weiss's dad's lien.

As they left, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, so they took a walk along the canal they'd been overlooking. "So, do you want to hit a dance club, or go back to my place..." Yang looked eager. "... to talk." Now she was a different kind of eager. "I've love to dance, but we can do that another time, and I think it's time we get around this goliath in the middle of the room."

So they strolled in quiet comfort back to the sky ferry, taking it back from Vale to Beacon, and then at a more brisk pace went to his rooms to have a conversation Blanc knew would bring massive changes, both to their relationship, the relationships with others, particularly Blake, Pyrrha, and Jaune, and possibly the outcome of his mission. He sat Yang down on the couch they'd begun the previous evening on, and began.

"So, let's start with how I know Blake is a faunus, and was in the white fang..."


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's note:**

Apologies, I completed this chapter a few days ago, saved it, and edited it several times, and at one point decided to revert to an early save that took it from 4500 words to 77 words.

I was not amused.

This is the re-written version, and frankly it's not as good, but it's the best I can do from memory.

 **Blanc's Rooms, after their date**

"First, I'm going to tell you something that will make you think I'm crazy, and then I'll prove it to you, which might put you into shock. I need you to try to stay calm and think rationally and not emotionally. Can you do that?

Yang roller her eyes and him, then nodded. "I know I have a bit of a temper, but I'm not completely wild." Blanc gave her a sideways glance. "No, really. I can keep my cool." Still skeptical, he began.

"I know these things, and more, because I'm from the future." Yang began to snicker, raising her fist to her mouth. "No, I'm not using a cheesy pick up... could you stop?" By now, she was no longer trying to conceal her laughter. "Yang... I guess this is one of the better reactions possible." He sighed. By now she was roaring, laughing so hard her breath was becoming an issue, and she began to wheeze, which did amuse Blanc, but she then began to laugh at her own reaction, now unable to catch her breath. "You need to breath, babe." She fell off the couch, rolling on the floor, finally taking a deep breath and immediately losing it to laughter again.

It took her a full fifteen minutes to finally calm down. She would begin to calm, look at him and his serious face, then begin to laugh again. Finally, she relaxed enough to talk. "Okay, that was pretty funny. You can go on with the real story now." He looked at her for a long few seconds. "That was the real story." She began to laugh again, not nearly as hard this time, chuckling out "The joke's getting old baby, let's move on okay." He sighed, looked up at some imaginary figure for support, and then asked her "pick a number between 1 and 1000." She didn't play along at first. "No, really. Don't tell me yet, just pick it and tell me in 10 seconds, okay?" He set a timer on his scroll for that time, then started it, and she thought of her number. She saw a glyph appear behind him, sort of like something Weiss would do but more complicated, and then heard from over her shoulder Blanc say "342. Pick another number." The timer went off. The voice was right, she turned to face the voice, and it was him. When she turned back, he was gone. "Shorter this time. See? 5 seconds." He set the timer on his scroll again, started it, and then the same glyph appeared. "492." From back behind her again. Then she heard the scroll beeping, in stereo, and turning to the new voice, suddenly heard the scroll she'd been looking at stop while the new one continued.

"Cool party trick; I like that you can do it with the scroll too, but Blake makes clones all the time. What's with the glyph? Can you read my mind? How..." Exasperated, Blanc used the glyph on her, the way he'd done Ren, and pulled her back in time so that she was facing herself as she spoke. As her other self faded out of time, Yang began to hyperventilate. "No no no no no no no no no no no..." she continued. Blanc knew she was having an anxiety attack; it was disturbingly common for people who had difficulty accepting the reality of what he could do, especially when it was done to them and they couldn't deny it to themselves easily. Blanc appeared from where his kitchen was, carrying a cup of hot tea. The other Blanc was still holding her, holding up a paper bag he'd had laying on the table in front of them, next to some work he'd been doing. "Just breath. I've got some of that tea made, as close to what your father gave you as possible."

"How... how do you know about the tea... How?" Blanc pulled her close, setting down the tea, actually touching his other self in places. "Shhhh... you'd have told me in a minute or so. I can't go back very far very often, but this was worth it... shhhhhh." His other self faded out of time. "I've got you Yang. It's okay... shhhhhhh... It's okay baby." He reached over and handed her the tea, which she pulled close, smelling the aroma and began to settle. He sat with her, holding her loosely and letting her reach equilibrium, mulling it over in her mind. "This... how is this possible?"

Now that she'd accepted it, he could continue. "It's my semblance. I'm... well I'm Weiss' son, from the future. You saw the glyphs? They're a sort of modified time dilation glyph, like what she uses to speed up her thoughts and actions. But I'm the only one who can do them; she and others who can do glyphs have tried but all failed, except me. I've trained to do this most of my life." She set the tea down, turned into his shoulder, and snuggled into him. He waited for her to ask another question, but just when he was starting to decide he'd have to push on, she asked "So, if you can go back in time, why did you?"

"I came back to save the world. Wait, don't start laughing again, I'm serious. It's not a pick up line. First... I've already got your interest, and second, I'm going to need your help. It's part of the reason I'm telling you; the other part is that if we're going to be together, I think you deserve to know as much of the truth as I can tell you. There are... things I won't be able to tell you, but I'll tell you anything else I can. I might forget some things, you'll have to forgive me."

He started. "You know that feeling, where you feel like you know me? Well, you do. Or rather you did, or will, or would have. It's a bit confusing, even to me. We were... we were lovers. For about two years before I came back." She was shocked. "That feeling you have, that familiarity without having met me? It's because... well you see, bodies and material things, they go back in time and they become distinct. They're separated by space and time. But the soul, it's outside that. We don't know a lot about it, but it's not really in the material universe. You see some aspects of it, semblance and aura, but the soul is immortal and immaterial; it exists outside time. It knows and feels everything it's ever going to know or feel, all the time. That creepy feeling you get around some people? That's because your soul knows them, and something bad about them, or bad about what they'll do to you. Maybe from the past, maybe from the future. Hand in hand with that, that familiarity you have with me? It's because we were very familiar. I've told you things I never told anyone else, ever. It's why Ruby's soul knows mine too."

Yang started to get angry. "You were doing... you were having sex with Ruby?" He quickly shook his head, calming her. "No, she helped raise me, like the mom I should have had, rather than the one I did."

"So, how far in the future are you from?" She asked him. "How old are you?" He began to scratch the back of his neck and head again. "Jaune does that a lot... are you his son too? With Weiss?" He nodded, then said "I didn't grow up with him." He quickly added when she started to look angry. "He died before I was born." She calmed at that, looking a bit melancholy. "You said you came back to save the world. What did you mean?"

He told he about the Vytal festival, the attack on Beacon. He kept her calm through telling her what he knew about Pyrrha's death and the disappearance of Ozpin, who they never found and was presumed dead. His tale went on to team RNJR, to tracking down the one who'd killed the fall maiden, stolen her power, and destroyed their home. "Okay, what? Fall maiden? Like, from the fairy tale?"

He nodded. "Some tales are true, that one is. There are four 'maidens', one for each season, their powers seem connected to the weather and aspects of that season. Ruby is the summer maiden, from her mother. A girl named Amber is currently the fall maiden but she's dying; Pyrrha was to be next in line. Weiss's sister Winter is the winter maiden. I don't know who the spring maiden is, she was never found by our side." Yang looked skeptical, but was keeping an open mind. Blanc continued.

"My mother, Ruby, and Jaune finally confronted Pyrrha's murderer. Dad killed her, but not before she'd set him on fire. He burned to death, saving my mother. They'd had a fling on the way, nothing but fulfilling needs, according to my mother. She says he was still hung up on Pyrrha, and she was away from Ruby for too long."

"Ruby and Weiss are gay? And together?"

He looked at her, his brow wrinkling. "Yeah. I guess they've only met now, but for all the my memory, they've been together. Why, is that a problem? I don't really like to think about it. Ruby told me she didn't like thinking about Qrow when he was screwing people either."

Yang shook her head. "No, it's just that I know Ruby was hung up on this guy at Signal. I didn't think it was cover; she never showed any interest in girls but she did guys. I don't know Weiss enough, but she had you so... wait, Qrow? Why would she care so much about our uncle?"

"You don't know yet? Damn. Uhhh, maybe you should talk to him about this?" Yang gave him that look he knew meant he had to talk. "Okay, look. Spoiler alert, Qrow isn't her uncle, he's her dad." Yang exploded. "WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING TALKING ABOUT?" Blanc grumbled. "I told you to talk to him, but no, take it out on me. Look, Taiyang is your dad, and Raven is your mom, but Qrow is your uncle but not hers. Summer was never with your dad, they just lived together. I mean, I don't know, maybe they did get together but Qrow was Ruby's dad, and everyone knew it. I just... I grew up with that and it wasn't a secret. Your mom left, and he chased after her. I guess he felt guilty for what she did to your dad? I dunno. Anyway, when you guys were growing up you both just treated Taiyang like your dad, and when Qrow finally came back, they decided you were too young to understand and just let you keep thinking that. After your dad died... he told you guys the truth." Yang was livid.

"They've been lying to me... lying to me my whole life? And poor Ruby? How could they... And what, Ruby was okay with it?"

"I don't know. It doesn't really matter. I grew up with Aunt Ruby being the mother I should have had. If you want to know more you need to talk to Qrow."

He waited for her to calm down, and to see if she'd storm off to confront her uncle. She didn't. "Anyway, dad kills the fall maiden, and her power leaves. Ruby's a maiden, and Weiss wasn't a maiden because she wasn't virginal. There's no other woman there, but my mother is just pregnant with me; she didn't even know it at the time, she told me. The power flowed into her, and then because I wasn't really much of anything at the time, flowed into me, and I took on the fall aspect, like a care taker. Only, it hates me. I'm male, and it's supposed to be a power for females, so it's constantly gnawing at me, like a dull ache that won't go away. And when I use it, it feels like I've not eaten in days, starving and the pain is torturous. In my head it just... it gives me this feeling like it's calling me a thief. So, I call it the stolen power. Everyone I knew did. It was meant to be Pyrrha's but she was gone. We were winning battles, don't get me wrong, but the number of grimm just kept increasing; kept getting more powerful. The stronger we got, the more numerous and stronger they got, and there was always fewer of us. And then... well, I need to tell you this but I need you to understand something first."

He paused, moving away from her a bit, and then turned to face her fully so she could see him completely. "I've killed people. I didn't really want to, but I have. I need you to understand this before I go on. We were at war a long time, all my life and before it. I was 18 when I left, but it was about 20 years from now. Ruby was like the mother in our family, nurturing and loving. Patching me up after practices, talking to my real mother to help me... keeping my spirits up. It's her that got me into this; making armor and weapons and stuff. You know how much she likes weapons? Well, she got me into it too, only with armor." Yang understood then, all the scrap bits around, the tools, the big machine he called a nanolathe, which he'd told her he designed himself... they were all for making weapons and armor. "You made all your own stuff, with stuff you brought back from the future?"

"Just ideas; things I knew how to do, but I actually came back naked." She raised an eyebrow at that, then proceeded to check him out. "You can look at that later, if you still want to. I promise I won't cover it up this time. Anyway, it takes a lot of power to go back in time, the longer the time difference, the longer the space difference, the more stuff you move, the more energy it takes. It took about everything I could get to move myself back far enough to change what had to be changed to save the world."

She looked at him. "You keep saying that, but I'm not sure what you mean." He nodded. "Okay, yeah. I mean the death of every human on the planet. That's what I'm here to stop." She sobered. "Everyone?"

"Yes, even the people we never met. Grimm overran the planet and killed everyone. When I left, you and my mother were outside defending the vault. They got by you, tore into the vault and almost got to me. If they got by you..."

"Then we were dead." Her face was straight. Strangely, she didn't find it all that disturbing to talk about her future death, especially in relation to everyone else dying on Remnant.

"Yeah. It was basically decided that the turning point was when Pyrrha died and the fall maiden's power was lost. Even though we got it back a few years later, by then it was too late. Somewhere we lost spring, and then winter too. We got back fall, and there was a sort of stale-mate, until we lost summer." He looked at her. She understood then what he meant. "Ruby... she died?"

"She was murdered. There was this guy, Mercury Black, who worked with them. He was there at the fall of Beacon. He helped frame you during the festival, got you kicked out of the tournament and up on charges for assault. He had this accomplice that could make you see things that weren't there, or change what you saw. She made you see him attacking you instead of just standing there, and you hit him really hard. He faked a leg injury, and they disqualified you. Except his legs were mechanical and he wasn't hurt at all. You'd been set up." She was a bit angry, but still in control. "And Ruby?"

"He killed her when she was out on a mission, defending a village. He made sure the villagers saw him, told them to tell us who he was. They took her power, and used it demoralize us. Grimm attacks got worse and now they had three of the four aspects of the maidens' powers. Just me left. I was... I was enraged. Mother tried to keep it from me, forbade me to do anything about it. I know she just wanted to keep me safe... now anyway, but at the time she was telling me it would be taken care of and just, keep working on training for this. Now I wish I'd listened, but I just... I just couldn't sit there and let nothing be done, you know?" She nodded, tearing up at his emotion. "So I hunted him down. I was 13, I snuck out, crossed the wilderness, tracked him down based on rumors, and found him in the Forever Fall forest outside what had been Beacon. He'd been hiding out there since the assassination. I didn't know why, but ... I killed him. I dropped out of a tree on top of him, cut off his legs, and while he was screaming in pain and bleeding to death, jammed my tonfa through the bottom of his jaw and out the top of his skull."

She looked at him, a bit of fear in her eyes at his anger, but also a lot of understanding, respect, and love. "You did it for her." He nodded. "And I wish I hadn't." She started to sputter, getting upset. "Look, Blanc. I know we're not supposed to kill people, but ... Ruby... for her of course it's okay."

"You don't understand. Let me explain it. He was bait. It's why they made sure the villagers saw him and told us it was him; why he told them his name. He was bait, for me. Somehow they knew about me; knew what she meant to me, that I'd care and that I had the fall aspect - the last one. They used it as bait to draw me out, and when I killed him, Salem attacked and captured me."

"Who's Salem, and what'd he do to capture you?"

He got up and walked to the window, staring at the shattered moon again, and Yang began to understand. "She was a witch of some kind, part grimm, or maybe the beginning of grimm. I don't really know. She had this power... she could control her shadow, make it do things and become things. She tried to kill me, turned her shadow into sharp tentacles, stabbed me with them in the heart and head." He began to shudder. "I used my time semblance to escape before she did, and she understood at once what it was. She'd not known about that, but I was fighting her instead of running, and she captured me because she was more intrigued with that power than the maiden's powers. She... she wrapped me in her shadow, pushed the tentacles inside me... everywhere, my mouth, my nose, ears... my ass. I couldn't breath and I started to panic and I couldn't make my semblance work or do anything. She captured me and took me back to her fortress. When I woke up, I didn't know where I was. She... she grabbed me and she violated me, laughing."

"She made the scars on your back?" He nodded. "Whip scars; she had this whip with 9 braids, the ends had little blades on them. She'd make her shadow into a cock, then penetrate me and use the whip on me. She got me weak, then shoved one of those shadow tentacles down my throat, and somehow she drugged me with it. Made me complaint and stupid."

He continued his horrific tale, emotionless. "She chained me to her bed and kept me there. She can make grimm; change them with aspects of people. That's how nevermores can throw their feathers; it was a hunter's aspect. She used to taunt me about it. She'd take their essence, their sexual essence, and use it with the pools the grimm formed from, and the grimm would come out with some aspect of that hunter or huntress' powers. She said hunters were easier to get the essence from, and she favored them anyway. She would milk me, stroke me or suck me or... whatever she wanted. Sometimes when I was more aware I wouldn't be as compliant and she'd use that shadow cock on me. I wanted to die; I longed for nothingness and it was't mine. She had complete control over me. Sometimes she'd be loving, like she was treating me like her boyfriend or something. Sometimes she was cruel, or viscous. She's where the bite marks come from. The stabs are from dearest mother, training me without an aura when I was a child... after a while, Salem had everything she needed. She'd made an army of these humanoid things. Black and white with red stripes like grimm tend to be, but human like, with claws for hands. And they had a bit of my power. If they saw you coming, saw you attacking? They could go back in time as you attacked them; you'd kill them but they'd be behind you, clawing your back to ribbons, and it was like you never touched them. You had to surprise them to really kill them. Humanity started losing fast; the last bits retreated to Atlas. Salem loved to taunt me about that."

"She decided I was her favorite plaything; she was going to keep me, forever. Make me like her, part grimm or whatever, and just rape me for the rest of eternity. That was the part she most liked about it, not the sex, but that she was forcing me. She liked to let the drugging lapse enough for me to get aware, then she'd hold me down with her shadow, use part of it to press on me through my asshole, and make me get hard, then force herself on me. I... I'm so tainted and fucked up Yang. I'll never be right; everything in me she took and destroyed." The woman got up, wrapped him in her arms, and listened while trying to be comforting. She cooed at him, and in some vague way it reminded him of Salem and he shuddered, charging from her arms and away, and then realizing what he'd done, he turned back around and grabbed her, pulling her into the tightest hug she'd ever had, before releasing her.

She traced his scars through his shirt. "How'd you escape?"

"She got careless. She had this mirror thing; she could sit and watch people die in it. She'd watch the grimm destroying towns and attacking the humans, eating children... she'd get horny and rape me, sometimes while watching. She got careless and fell asleep after using me while watching this pack of beowolves eating children they'd caught trying to flee a small school, she thought she'd beaten me unconscious... maybe she did. I just... I woke up and I was straddling her, with a broken piece of that damn mirror, hacking at her neck. She had this surprised look on her face; I'd already hacked her head off. There was this ... black blood, everywhere, splattering as I hacked at her, all over the front of my naked body. I think I was screaming. Screaming and hacking away, my hands bloody, my blood, from holding this broken mirror shard. I... I can't remember what happened before that, how I got the mirror shard or on top of her or hacked at her. She was just dead."

She held him, kissing his jaw. "I guess I got tired. I looked for clothes but she never wore any; used her shadow to cover her body. I ended up taking the bloody sheet from the bed, mostly her blood, and the mirror shard because it was the only weapon I could find. I used my semblance to move through space to get out of the chain. The fortress was empty. No other humans, no grimm, none outside. They'd all gone some where. I know there were humans there before I killed her, but I didn't even find bodies. I couldn't find a way to leave except the front, so I left there. Walked right past those pools that'd been making grimm, but they looked like clear water puddles then, not black and red pools of ichor. And I just kept walking. I never found anyone; never ran into any grimm either. I'd taken what food I could find in the fortress; food and water. When the water ran out I started drinking from the pools. Nothing but water; whatever magic she did to make them make grimm was gone and they were just water again, but they were everywhere. And so was dust. But no trees; no life at all. I got the coast, sat on the beach, and decided to kill myself." She kissed him, trying to calm him down. "I took that mirror shard, and I started to cut at my wrists. I... I couldn't make a boat, couldn't swim across an ocean and didn't know where to go even if I did. I didn't know where I was. I was cold, my food was gone, and just salt water... And then there you were. You... you found me somehow. You picked me up, put me on a bullhead, and took me back to Atlas. I looked out while we flew; everything was gone. The grimm had destroyed every village, town... everything man made that we came across was destroyed. And at the coast near what had been Vale? A sea of black. Grimm so thick and so many you couldn't see anything but them, like a giant red, white, and black shadow that glowed red in the dark. You could see them from miles away, and the shadow seemed to go from horizon to horizon. I knew we were doomed. I started... I started trying to throw myself out, but you wouldn't let me."

"You took me back to Atlas, to where we were living now. Back to my mother, who didn't seem at all happy to see me. To be fair, I don't think she was unhappy either, just... unemotional. I think maybe she was broken inside after Ruby died, breaking all her human connections. Maybe she loved me, and just didn't know how to show it? Anyway, you did. You put me back together, showed me how to live again, showed me how to love... showed me what men and women could do together, and how to do those things with you. You taught me how to make love to you, how to touch you and tease you, make you laugh... you put my soul back together and gave me life again, made me want to live again. Live with you. You told me so much about you, how protective you are of Ruby, how you'd taken her out and almost got her killed if Qrow hadn't shown up to save you guys. You told me about how much you loved Aunt Summer and wished she was your real mom, and how you wanted to have kids so you could be with them the way she was with you and Ruby."

She stopped him. "Do.. um... do you want to have kids?" He stared at her for a bit, sat her down, then took her hand. "You... we were together for two years after I escaped. You..." She stopped him. "Wait, two years after you escaped... she had you for two years... you left at 13 and... how old where you?" He looked at her, knowing where this was going but unable to stop it. "I was 16... perfectly legal." She did the math. "I was, what, more than twice your age? 35 or 36 and fucking a 16 year old? You were just a boy... I'm some sort of pedophile in the future?"

He grabbed her before she could fly off the handle again. "Look, I was of age, and you were saving me. I don't regret it, and you didn't. The world was different; there were maybe a few thousand people in Remnant left alive. I'm glad you did what you did, you should be too." She looked at him. "Well, you're not 16 now, and I'm not 37... so... I mean, I don't want them just yet but I feel like... I dunno..."

He held her close. "I need to tell you something else. We... when I left, when we didn't have a choice anymore. I didn't want to leave you but you insisted. I knew you were right, it was the only way but I didn't want to... you were pregnant. We were pregnant, Yang. You were going to have our baby. And..." He started crying. "You... you died out there in that hall, outside that vault giving me the chance to go back here. Yes, yes I want to have kids and I want to have them with you."

She was overjoyed, so of course he had to ruin it. "But I can't. I won't leave you alone again. I won't leave you to raise my child alone." She looked at him funny. "What, are you planning on knocking me up and dumping me the next hot thing that comes along?"

"If I'm going to save the world, I have to pass the power back to Pyrrha, where it belongs. And to do that, I have to die."

So, she hit him.


	22. Chapter 22

**Blanc's rooms, hours later**

Blanc's head hurt as he woke up. He was on his couch, his coat laid over him like a blanket, and he was alone. He sits up, pushing the coat off him, holding his head. Despite his aura, he's going to have a black eye. Memories come back to him, leading up to Yang knocking him out after a long, emotional conversation. He looks up, and on the table next to the cold tea is a handwritten note from some scrap paper; Yang's let him know that she needed some space, that Blake and disappeared, and she was going to search for her with her team. And not to call her, she'd call him.

Which meant this was the night of the heist at the docks. He'd known it was coming soon, given what Yang and he'd talked about, but things around Blake were always pretty fuzzy. Future Yang never really talked about her, nor did his mother, and Ruby just didn't seem to know a lot. But Ruby had known about the docks, and what caused Blake to be there, and she'd told him. He didn't now where Blake was, but he knew where she'd be.

It'd be daylight soon. He picked up the note, read it again, and decided it felt like a break-up. Maybe it was for the best anyway; he'd still have to figure out Blake and get team RWBY ready, so she'd have to accept him in her life to some degree. He didn't doubt that would be uncomfortable, but he wasn't even sure that was the intent of the note, and she'd work with him anyway.

He got up, swaying a bit. Maybe she'd given him a concussion. He went to his room, flopped down on the bed in his clothes, and went back to sleep. There'd be plenty of time to wake up and be at the docks to make sure things either went the same, or didn't get out of hand if a ripple he'd caused changed them.

He slept for a few hours, but when he got up, he was still slightly dizzy and disoriented. The mirror showed his face, a dark ring around his eye where she'd hit him; he knew he shouldn't go out, so instead he ate some left overs and laid back in his bed, awake and waiting, getting a handle on how to deal with the swelling in his skull. He felt less dizzy if he kept his eyes open, and used the lines of the wall to help with his balance.

Jaune called on his scroll to see if he wanted to hang out with team JNPR but he begged off, telling them he wasn't feeling well, and looking all the part. The blonde noticed his eye, and asked about it, but Blanc simply said "Yang" and left it at that, disconnecting. He dozed, waking occasionally as the swelling decreased, his aura healing his injury, and the bruising around his eye diminishing to a greenish yellow, that had itself begun to disappear.

 **Streets of Vale, late morning**

They'd been walking up and down random streets, pointlessly, for hours. Weiss was struggling with her anger over her argument with her teammate, Ruby confused and unsure what to do to help, and Yang looking rather despondent. Ruby leaned over to her sister. "Yang, what's with you? You're all... quiet and moody. What happened with Blanc last night?"

"Nothing, Ruby. I'm just tired. We've been at this all night, and we're getting nowhere." They'd gotten ready and searched for Blake, first at Beacon, then later in Vale itself when they didn't find her at the academy. Eventually they'd had to take a break for a quick nap, and to get some food to replenish their energy, but Weiss seemed driven to find the brunette. "Would you two come on? This was your idea. We don't have time for a stroll!" Ruby wanted her partner to tone it down, but it seemed like everything was falling apart. What kind of team leader let this happen? Maybe Weiss had been right, maybe she'd have made a better leader. Ruby shrugged it off; it was too late for that.

"We're coming Weiss, just give me a minute to talk to Yang." She turned her attention back to Yang while Weiss continued to walk, calling out for Blake. "Yang, we're all tired. This is something else. What did he do to you?"

Yang was quiet, but continued to walk after Weiss. "Nothing. He ... he told me the truth about some things, and when he did, I freaked out. You know how I am... so I hit him. Oh Ruby, I think I hurt him. I couldn't stay. I was still so... angry... and it wasn't his fault but I couldn't look at him. What am I going to do? I think I love him but right now, I don't think I can stand to be around him."

Ruby, who'd had exactly 0 boyfriends, didn't know what to say. "I dunno. Maybe you could talk to Dad or Uncle Qrow?" Yang seemed to get angrier at that. "NO, I don't think that'd be a good idea." Ruby was mystified at her sisters aggressive tone, but let it go as Weiss began to get more impatient at their slow walking toward her. The two caught up the the young woman in white, Ruby calling out for Blake.

"Weiss, you're not helping." Weiss stopped. "Oh. You know who might be able to help? The police." Ruby was disgusted. "Euchh... Weiss" Ruby had had it. Between her morose sister and Weiss' constant complaining and lack of help, she wasn't sure how much more she could take. "It was just an idea." Ruby snapped. "Yeah, a bad one."

Yang sighed. "I want to hear her side before I decide anything, Weiss." The response was frosty. "When you do, you'll see I was right."

"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today!" came from behind them, unexpectedly. They were startled. "Penny, where did you come from?" The orange haired girl asked what they were doing. "We're looking for our friend Blake."

Penny replied. "Oh, you mean the faunus girl." Ruby and Yang were surprised that she knew, but Penny made it seem obvious, and they felt silly for never having realized it. "So, where is she?"

Ruby replied. "We don't know, she's been missing since last night." Penny volunteered to help, rather insistently, and Yang and Weiss disappeared while they were talking.

 **Blanc's room, early afternoon**

He woke with a headache, but the pressure in his head had diminished and he no longer felt dizzy laying down. Deciding to prepare for the day, he got up and dressed, choosing more form-fitting black clothes. He slipped a dark coat over the top - it was a different style than he usually wore and would give him some concealment when he put on the black balaclava he had in the interior pocket, along with two metal extendable rods. It'd be a different fighting style than he was used to using, but he had trained with these as well, especially for non-lethal combat.

His plan was to go to the docks, plant some long range tracking and listening devices on the dust containers he expected to be stolen that evening, set to a timer to conserve the batteries, and then use those to check out Cinder's dust theft operations. He knew from Ruby where a lot of the breach supplies would go, but the other staging grounds were unknown, and he hoped to track them down. Range was a bit low; the amount of power necessary to get them to use the Beacon tower as a relay would give them away, but he thought they were likely being staged in Vale or nearby, and a simple perimeter check of the city, as his first-year mission of course, would allow him to track them down and collect the recorded positions and any recorded speech. Another Schnee industries innovation, courtesy of time travel. He also took a dust-powered blow gun for them, just in case. It was small enough to slip up his sleeve and fire from there, would be silent, and would allow him to bug the containers from a distance.

If he had to interefere, he would. He knew that according to Ruby, Penny would save them in the end, but he didn't know if they'd met the android or if he'd interfered too much to get them to show up, and despite not knowing if Blake was an infiltrator or not, he couldn't let her die. The faunus girl was introspective and quiet, but observant and suspicious as well. He'd been unable to get close to her, nor had he gotten anything from Ren or Nora, who were both noticeably on better terms than himself. He knew where she'd be that night, and with who, and what they'd be doing, but he didn't know where she was at the moment.

He thought of sending Yang a message, knowing that the rest of team RWBY would be out searching for the brunette, but decided that she'd asked him for space, and he wasn't really in the mood to deal with someone who'd hit him, and then leave him like she had. This Yang was so much like her older self, but so much less mature and in control, and so much quicker to irrational anger. Maybe this was his out, his chance for a clean break with a clean conscious. He started to tap out a message on his scroll to her, breaking it off and wishing her well, asking her to train with him and to work with him to get RWBY on board, but when he read it back over, the message sounded more like he was pleading for her. He rewrote it three times before giving up and deleting it. Either it sounded petulant and vindictive, passive-aggressive, or it didn't have the message he wanted to send. Blanc decided his heart just wasn't ready to call it off yet, so he decided to wait and see what happened.

Instead he sent a message off to team JNPR's scrolls, telling them he was going into Vale for the day. Jaune asked him if he was okay, or needed a friend to talk to, but Blanc replied that he wanted some time to himself, which was the truth. Besides, none of them had any stealth training, and while Lie Ren probably could pull it off anyway, none of the other three had a chance, and his plan was to be as non-confrontational as possible.

 **Vale Docks, late afternoon**

How bad was Schnee security? Sure, it was a weekend, but there were no guards, and white fang operatives were everywhere - in open daylight! Blanc shook his head. It was too bright for the dark clothing he was wearing to give him much stealth, and they were already taking away containers; he suspected it must be an inside job, at least partly. He revised his plan; he'd disable one of the white fang guards, hide the operative and take his clothes, then use them to infiltrate the operation.

These white fang weren't very disciplined; little more than new recruits, he suspect. It was remarkably easy to find their regular patrol pattern, and find a place to both disable a lone guard, but also hide the unconscious body, slip on the white tunic, hood, and mask, take their weapon, and slip back into the patrol pattern unnoticed. He'd waited 20 minutes to be certain, then executed his plan. He'd had to leave his coat behind; hopefully he could retrieve it later but if not, it wasn't a huge loss. He kept his collapsed batons, however, hidden in the white tunic and took up the faunus' rifle. He'd had to dart ahead a bit to get back into the patrol pattern, but no one noticed the absence or the concealment of his target. The next problem was hiding his surveillance bugs on the containers being stolen.

It was fairly easy to identify which containers were getting taken, but not which ones were going to be taken where he needed them to go, so he needed to hit quite a few of them. Unfortunately, each container was identified by the presence of at least two white fang guards, who unlike the patrol pattern, always stayed within sight of each other, and didn't rotate out until their container was lifting off. Additionally, the dust containers were mostly hallow shipping containers; they'd ring like a drum if he shot them with the blowgun. But, while they were rigging up the bullhead lift cables, the noise would cover for him, so in the end he marked most of the containers in this manner; a few he still marked by hand. In the end, he got down 20 devices before he'd run out of his supply; now all he had to do was wait.

Dusk was approaching; if the timeline hadn't been changed too much, he knew the operation would be disrupted shortly. He could use that as his escape plan; he would if he saw Penny, but regardless, he'd try to get back, disrobe from the white fang clothing, and get his coat back on. He'd stick around close enough to get involved if anything got out of hand. Blanc was careful not to check the roofs of the nearby warehouses; another weakness in the new recruits working muscle for the operation. None of them thought in three dimensions; they were looking around as if anyone who might attack would be at eye level when they did. A foolish assumption; out of his peripheral vision, he could see what he thought was likely the faunus girl Blake, and a blonde faunus male with her. Much more stealthy than the faunus guards; in face if he wasn't looking for her he doubted he'd have seen her, so points for Blake and some slack for the neophyte fang.

It appeared that the main limitation on the operation was the number of available bullhead transports to move the dust containers. Still, they'd stolen quite a few; more than half of the bugged containers were already gone. Blanc planned to track them down the following evening after they turned on; hoping they'd still be in or near Vale. It wasn't instrumental to the plan, overall, but it would allow for some nice clean-up and possibly save many lives in the future.

"Hey, what's the hold up? We're not exactly the most inconspicuous thieves at the moment, so why don't you animals try to pick up the pace?" Blanc was certain that meant showtime. Another bullhead had shown up, dropping off more white fang and an orange haired man in a bowler hat, with a cane. He tried to get closer and see if he could identify the man leading them, but before as he did, there was Blake, her blade at his throat.

 **Note:**

I realize in canon the white fang aren't already at the dock. Call it artistic license, or some ripple from changes he made earlier. It leads to the same place.

Also, I do appreciate all of your reviews, even the ones that aren't positive, but especially the ones with constructive criticism. Yes, I went back and corrected earlier spelling and grammar errors people pointed out. So again, thank you.


	23. Chapter 23

**Vale docks, just after dusk**

Blake made her appeal to her 'brothers', causing the faunus terrorists to lower their weapons. As she finished, two additional bullheads arrived, and using the distraction the man from using his cane to fire some sort of Dust round into the ground at their feat, blowing her away from him. A stupid move, in Blanc's opinion - she could have easily sliced his throat open. Blanc's best guess was that the man's aura was unlocked, which likely meant combat training.

The man began firing round after round out of his cane at her, but Blake successfully in evaded them, sometimes leaving behind a shadow clone, so Blanc held back. Another faunus, a blonde with a prehensile tale, confronted the cane-wielder, but he was surrounded by fang operatives, some dropping from the recently arrived bullheads. The blonde held his own, first with his fists and feet, then adding some sort of staff weapon, only to have Blake interfere and attack the man in the bowler hat. The pair were working well together, defeating the nearby fang troops and knocking back the human leader, but another blast from his cane separated them by using a falling container to drop on them, leaving them both vulnerable.

While they were fighting, Blanc worked to silently disable the fang operatives from who'd already been at the dock, removing his tunic and other white fang gear, and putting on his balaklava and swapping his rifle for the pair of collapsible batons he'd brought with him. He moved quietly in the dark, unseen, using quick hits to the back of their skulls to knock them out, or raps on their arms to throw off their shots and prevent them from hitting the pair of faunus hunters.

As Blanc finally caught up to where Blake and the other faunus were, on a distant Ruby and an orange haired girl showed up on a rooftop in the distance. Ruby, extending her scythe, attracted his attention. "Oh, hello red. Isn't it past your bedtime?" So, he knew Ruby from somewhere. He'd have to get the story from her; she'd never mentioned the man with the cane before to him. Ruby turned to talk to her friend, and the cane wielder used the distraction to strike, firing a dust round and hitting Ruby in the chest, knocking her back and out of view.

The man gave a maniacal laugh, causing Blanc to see red and attack. He ran at the cane wielder, who turned toward the charge and raised his cane. Blanc dropped and slid at him as the dust round Blanc had anticipated flew over his head, then sprung off his hands, using the batons for additional leverage, and came down, foot extended, in a scything kick right through the top of that bowler hat. Aura or not, it would have been a devastating hit. But the man had anticipated the attack after missing his shot, and retreated while blocking with his cane, hooking Blanc's leg and pulling him down to the ground.

Blanc didn't slow, instead using small glyphs to accelerate the movements of his arms and legs. Unlike Pyrrha, he'd practiced extensively in using glyphs to enhance his fighting style, and his attacks where much faster. He swept the man's legs, but his opponent rolled through the fall and came back up on his feet. Blanc closed the distance; the cane wielder couldn't keep up, getting rapped with the metal batons repeatedly, eventually being disarmed. Blanc had knocked his cane away, and with a side kick pushed the man away from it, then closed the distance and began attacking again. Unfortunately, the man had some skill at unarmed combat as well, and was defending himself while trying to circle to retrieve his cane, as more white fang troops arrived, mostly armed with swords.

It was then that into the docks dropped Ruby's orange haired friend, wielding flying swords with extensive skill. The blades danced around here, blocking attacks, pushing the troops away, slicing into them and bowling them over. Three new bullheads opened fire on her, but she successfully used the blades like a spinning shield, deflecting the rounds, pulling herself back with two blades and using some sort of charged attack with the swords she'd just used as a shield, generating a beam that cut two of the armed transports in half. As another transport tried to escape carrying another container, but her blades pierced it and she began to drag it down to the ground.

Unfortunately, the explosions had attracted the attention of the authorities, and Blanc decided it was best to let the man in the bowler hat go while they were distracted. He saw Ruby had recovered on the rooftop, and his anger faded. Seeing Weiss and Yang arriving, and Ruby joining her friend, he melted into the shadows to catch a transport back to beacon. He'd have to see what he could learn from the bugs that did escape with the white fang earlier; many of the containers on the docks had been destroyed by the downed transports and dust rounds.

Whatever sort of reunion team RWBY was having, it didn't involve him. He slipped away unnoticed, and removed his balaklava, retrieved his coat, and headed for the public sky ferry back to Vale.

 **Vale Docks, after the fight**

Blake had no idea what to make of what had happened, but she was definitely done with the white fang. First terrorism and assissinations, now stealing dust for criminals? Whatever they'd been, it appeared none of that remained in the organization she'd once loved, that had given her a home and let her find an outlet for her anger at the way people treated her because of how she was born. But now that the fight was over, the moment she was dreading had arrived. Here were the rest of her team, including Weiss, and she'd have to own up to the fact that the girl in white had been right, and try to persuade them that she was different, that not all faunus were scum.

The conversation went better than she'd hoped; Weiss seemed to care more about her than anything else and accepted that she wasn't part of what the white fang were doing. There weren't going to be any hugs, but they'd get through it together. "I'm still not quite sure how I feel about you." Well, some things were evidently going to take more time. Ruby then asked the question that apparently no one knew the answer for. "Who was that guy in black who appeared and attacked Torchwick?" Blake shook her head. "I don't know. We didn't see anyone, then he was just there, after Torchwick shot you." They presumed it was a man, but couldn't really tell anything about the person. The attacks had been swift and unrelenting, however. Sun spoke up. "I saw some kind of flashes with symbols in them, looked kinda like clocks?"

Weiss' eyes widened. "Like this?" She quickly demonstrated the haste glyphs she'd used on occasion to speed up her attacks. Sun nodded. "Yeah, only the hands moved a lot faster." Weiss looked down, thinking. She knew there were other glyph users in Remnant, but mostly her family. Outside of them, it was extremely rare. Could it have been her sister? She doubted her brother could done it, but it'd been some time since she's seen him and all of them had some combat training. "You know who it is, Weiss?"

She shook her head to indicate she didn't. "I can't think of who it would be. They'd have to be here already, and I'm sure anyone in my family would have let me know they were coming. It is only the proper thing to do." The group gave it up for a lost cause. Ruby began to look around. "Hey, wait a minute. Where's Penny?" No one could find the strange girl, however. Failing to find her, and having the authorities take their statements about what had occurred, the group left together to head to Beacon, Sun tagging along. "I'm going to use the tower to call my team and let them know I arrived, then find some guest quarters."

Blake was still troubled, but with her team, and now no longer having to hide her secret, she felt more at home than she'd felt in a long time.

 **Beacon Academy, that evening**

Blanc arrived, but his head was swimming. Whatever Yang had done to him, he wasn't as over it as he'd thought, and the fight with the criminal leading the white fang had caused the condition to worsen. He did what he could to hide his ailment, but eventually succumbed to the nausea. It looked like he had air sickness, so people left him alone, but he was afraid he couldn't avoid going to the infirmary. He was the last to step off the ferry, stumbling away as it began to close up to head back to Vale for it's last trip of the day, he collapsed into unconsciousness just out of site of the crew.

It was another 30 minutes before the ferry returned, letting off it's last riders and closing up for the night. Team RWBY was joined by Sun, and Jaune and Pyrrha, who'd left Ren and Nora to have a romantic evening in town together while their partners enjoyed the room alone. Friendly banter and warmth passed between them, until they came upon the crumpled heap dressed in black. Pyrrha reacted first, bending down to check on the body. "Jaune, call the infirmary. He's still alive but I don't to move him in case he has a spinal injury." Jaune took out his scroll and made a call, requesting medical assistance.

The group waited with the downed figure for the team to arrive from the infirmary. As they did, Blake recognized the clothing, having been closest of them and noticing the batons. "That's the guy from the docks! Who is he?" Pyrrha prevented them from rolling him over or trying to check who he was, worried about his neck which had been laying at an odd angle. "Whatever you want to know can wait. If we move him we might damage his spine and paralyze him or kill him." The infirmary team arrived shortly afterward, Pyrrha still guarding the body, and began to check it. The checked his pulse and respiration, then checked the neck for any sign of injury, before turning him over. Pyrrha had been facing away, but the group had a sort of collective gasp. It was Ruby who spoke first. "Blanc? That's our friend!" Yang looked on nervously; she'd been hoping to talk with him and work out their problems, and now...

Jaune, however, looked angry. He waited until the team took him away, then turned on Yang, pointing an accusing finger. "This is your fault."

Yang was taken aback, then retorted. "I saw him when you did. I didn't do anything to him." Blake interupted. "He was at the docks. Maybe he got hurt and snuck off." Jaune shook his head. "No, this is because you hit him. He told me this morning." That had everyone's attention, and looking between the angry Jaune and a now guilty looking Yang. "He had a black eye when I called, and I asked him what happened, and all he said was your name. You hit him, didn't you?"

Yang stepped back. "I ... I didn't mean to hurt him. I couldn't have done that. It was last night! He didn't even have a black eye." Pyrrha was angry now too. "Yang, his aura would have fixed that, but it would take longer to help if he had a head injury." She knew from personal experience. Blake interrupted. "He was at the docks. He was fighting, moving really fast. We don't know what happened to him, yet. Let's all just take a step back and wait to see, okay?" They'd just healed the rift in their team, and she didn't want to break it up again.

Ruby had remained silent. This was what had been bothering her sister all morning while they looked for Blake. Yang had always had an anger issue; it had been comedic before, an overprotective sister, a girl tired of being pestered about her attractiveness... but Yang cared about Blanc, a lot. She needed to talk with their father about this; something had to be done before it got out of hand. If it wasn't already.

Pyrrha took Jaune by the hand. "Come on, let's go wait. I'll contact professor Ozpin and I'm sure he'll give us an excuse from classes." Yang reached out, grabbing his shoulder, causing the man to angrily turn to her. "Jaune, I'm sorry... so sorry. I didn't mean any of this." He said nothing, turning back and walking off with Pyrrha to the infirmary to wait. Sun said his goodbyes, uncertain as to what was going on exactly, and headed for Beacon Tower to contact his team and get accommodations.

Weiss thought it was all very odd. She knew very little about the man. He was attractive, she supposed, and a very skilled combatant - precise and aggressive, very assertive and confident. But she doubted she'd exchanged more than a few sentences with him. Of course, she knew her teammate was dating him; how she found the time when there was so much training and studying to do if they were going to be the best at the academy, she didn't understand. She assumed that if Yang had hit him, he'd deserved it - most men did, after all. He'd probably tried to take liberties with her that she'd not welcomed, and then persisted after being told no. Well good for her. Ruby, however, wouldn't look at her sister, and that gave Weiss some worries. Ruby was very naive, innocent to a fault, and she desperately loved her sister. For Ruby to be giving Yang the cold shoulder over this should indicate that something wasn't right with the situation, but Weiss found it hard to believe that a woman could have done something wrong, even a huntress.

Blake wasn't as confident. She liked Yang, but the woman had a problem with impulsivity and a tendency to leap to conclusions. It wasn't that Yang was stupid; far from it actually. It was that Yang was always in motion, always doing or talking or making things happen. Like her fiery semblance and her wild hair, Yang had difficulty stopping and considering. It was something Blake had learned to be very good at from a young age; she couldn't afford to make the mistake of jumping into a situation that might leave her dead or enslaved in some mine.

As a group, team RWBY returned to their dorm. Yang had wanted to join Jaune and Pyrrha to wait on news about Blanc, but decided that she wouldn't be welcome, possibly even by the man she felt like she had fallen in love with. Ruby wanted to contact her father for advice about intervening with her waywardly violent sister. Weiss wanted to prepare for the next day, and Blake was just tired for her long weekend with Sun. Yang lingered a few moments, then followed behind, dejected and worried.

 **Note:** This brings us to the end of Volume 1 of the show. This story has been very centered around the OC; that's intentional as that's the main point of view I wanted to give, but I do want to work more with the story characters, so you should expect to see more of them and less of Blanc.

For those of you who will get upset at my characterization of Yang and Weiss, I'm not particularly sorry. Yang is prone to anger and violence in the series, and while the show plays it off, I don't think it's justified, and Weiss' arrogance always struck me as the sort to rationalize behavior she knows isn't really acceptable, like keeping faunus as virtual slaves in her father's mines. I really do bash Weiss quite a bit, and I apologize for that, but the abusive environment Blanc grew up in and lives in are intentional, and part of what sets his state of mind. I apologize for beating you over the head with it.


	24. Chapter 24

**Beacon Infirmary, the day after admission**

Jaune had been waiting there overnight. Normally, he would not be allowed to stay, having no formal relationship to Blanc, but Ozpin had intervened. Blanc had no family of record, no teammates, and no next of kin, so Ozpin was able to alter the policy regarding who was allowed to stay overnight to allow Jaune and Pyrrha to stay with their friend.

Jaune hadn't slept well; it was difficult to sleep in a stiff chair, and the infirmary was not setup to handle visitors well. As unbelievable as the fact was, Blanc was his son, and he was in the hospital, unconscious and at risk of dying. Blanc's aura reserves had healed the physical damage for the most part. He would have been fine had he stayed and rested, but getting involved in combat had exasperated his condition, and the swelling in his head had put pressure on his brain. They'd even discussed drilling into his skull to release the pressure! Fortunately that hadn't been necessary, and it appeared the swelling was receding.

Jaune and Pyrrha had to get the news of Blanc's condition from Ozpin. The doctors had been fairly sure that once the swelling reduced, Blanc wouldn't die, but there was still the possibility of brain damage. Memory loss seemed likely, but they wouldn't know until he awoke. Jaune and Pyrrha had discussed it and decided that they'd take shifts waiting with Blanc until he was well. Ren and Nora had agreed, and so they set a schedule. Pyrrha and Jaune would be there more often, and often together as they were dating, but it was mostly for mutual support. Jaune couldn't see the other man as his son, not completely. He was older, harder, more trained and experienced, cynical and responsible. The resemblance was there and it was easy to see once you knew the truth, but their relationship was more that of friends or mentor-student than parental.

It had been a long night. Pyrrha had waited with Jaune in the waiting room during the time when they'd been trying to stabilize his son, and then spent a few hours with him in Blanc's room after they had permission to wait with him, before Jaune had persuaded her to return to their room and sleep; the other three would continue to attend class and take notes for whoever was waiting with Blanc. Blanc had done nothing but sleep; he hadn't needed a breathing apparatus, and his heart monitor had been stable the entire night.

Ren and Nora were going to relieve him at lunch time, so he could spend it with Pyrrha and attend combat class; he had a scheduled spar and while Ozpin could let him out of class, Jaune's record needed the spar to justify his continued attendance at Beacon the following year. He found himself wishing his opponent was Yang, despite knowing she'd likely beat him; instead it was to be Weiss. He'd likely lose, despite his recent training, but that didn't mean a lot to him at this point.

Jaune had never really thought about anyone dying before. He knew it happened, but he'd never known anyone personally, and for some reason, he'd thought it could never happen to him, or anyone he cared about. Now he saw his concept of life for the fairy tale it was; this man that Nora had dubbed the 'impossible boy' because he beat their 'invincible girl', lay in a hospital bed after having nearly died, and it shook him. That could have been him; it could be Pyrrha. Before, what Blanc had told them had felt like a bad story, the kind of ghost story you told to scare children around a fire. Now, it felt all too real. Jaune was facing his mortality the way Pyrrha had months ago.

"Hey. Any change?" Jaune must've lost track of time, because Ren and Nora had arrived. He shook his head. "He's still just asleep. He doesn't even twitch."

Nora looked him over. "You really should have got some sleep in a bed, Jauney. You look terrible. I don't see how you're going to fight Weiss today." He shrugged, getting up to let them have the chair he was using; there were only two in the room. "I'll be okay. Let us know if he wakes up, okay? Even if I'm in class." Ren nodded and walked him out.

"Are you going to be okay?" Jaune turned to his friend, looking him in the eye, and was honest. "I don't know. I never thought it could really happen... now, I just don't know. That could be one of us, or... or Pyrrha. I just want to take her and run, you know? I love her so much and I don't think I could face this with her, and he's telling us... he's telling us I'll have to if we don't change things." Ren nodded. "We'll make it okay, Jaune." The blonde nodded, then left to join his love.

* * *

He'd never felt this way before. What Salem had done to him had been horrifying and painful, but this was bliss and contentment, warmth and light and hope wrapped up in soft velvet. He'd never felt safer or more loved than he did at this moment, wrapped in her arms and her legs.

When they'd returned after she rescued him from that hell, his wrists bandaged from where he'd cut himself, he'd been nearly catatonic. Having seen the ocean of black grimm, blocked from where they were by an ocean they would eventually transverse, he'd truly felt despair. There was no hope for any future. Why hadn't she let him die there on that forsaken beach? He couldn't sleep, waking from nightmarish memories of his rape and torture, of watching what Salem had done, watching what she'd called their 'children', butcher real children, pregnant mothers, fathers trying to protect their families, the old, young, infirm... leaving nothing human living in their wake. He could find no solace in the daytime; in the constant preparation for the inevitable invasion of the greatest mass of grimm ever seen... he knew there could be no victory.

His mother was no help; she didn't understand him and couldn't empathize. Perhaps she'd never loved him, never been able to empathize with anyone but his beloved Aunt Ruby. At any rate, it was too late for that relationship. His mother only knew training, and seeing the desperation around him, he recognized what a crucial role he played in any semblance of a future, even though he knew what that would require of him. It wasn't a lack of him being prepared to sacrifice himself; he had no reason to live otherwise. It just seemed futile in the face of so much horror.

And then she came, a blazing blonde beacon, mourning with him and training with him, coming to him at night to hold him when he screamed and cried, and finally, when there seemed to be nothing left that could save his tortured soul, she loved him. Yang had loved him with everything she had, giving everything of herself, and in doing it, she'd gave him the lifeline he needed to find his way out of his bleakness. He knew it was a bit unfair to her, to cling to her this way, but she gave freely, and she never objected to any of the ways they showed their love for each other.

In truth, she was rather enthusiastic about it. He'd been inexperienced and wounded; Salem hadn't cared about his pleasure or even her own, other than her sadism. But Yang cared, both about his and hers, and about forging a bond between them. When platonic love, and then familial love weren't enough, she'd used romantic love, and found that it suited her and their relationship. And so she'd taught him the feminine form, how to please it, and more importantly her, and showed him pleasure beyond anything he'd dreamt of. Blanc didn't care if his mother was aware of if she objected; in this woman's arms, he could rest and recover. He could find the strength to train and prepare, and the reason to accept the sacrifice he would have to make beyond having no reason not to do it.

In his time away, despite his torture and neglect, his body had grown, and now his older aunt was smaller in stature by comparison. At night their desire to be close would lead to intense and prolonged lovemaking, and then she would hold him tight with her arms and legs, usually with him still inside her, and they would fall asleep together, her nestled on top of him, his chest her pillow, and stay that way throughout the night. They weren't embarrassed when they woke up, secure in their feelings and desires, often continuing their love making before preparing for the day.

And now he felt content, wrapped in the tightness of her body. He felt no need to open his eyes, letting himself drift back into oblivion.

* * *

"Ren, I swear that his eyes were just moving around like crazy." Her friend looked closely at his eyes. "Hmmm. Perhaps they were. He may have been dreaming. I think that is a good sign, Nora." They informed the staff nurse when she came by to check his vital signs, but she didn't seem very concerned or interested. The two friends sat and spoke in hushed tones, whispering endearments to each other, talking about their friends Jaune and Pyrrha, and the fate of their mentor Blanc, and his relationship with Yang. Nora, always quick to stand up for her friends, felt conflicted; Yang was her friend first, and if she were honest, a better friend to her than Blanc who she didn't know well, but she was obviously at fault. Ren was more circumspect, as was his way, thoughtful and with a desire to collect all the information before rendering any judgement, if he rendered one at all. They spoke of their new relationship, and how it had been silly to deny it the way they had, and their hopes for their future together. Given their location and the proximity to death it lent to their minds, they avoided speaking of their fears.

Blanc slept, perhaps dreaming, perhaps remembering, or perhaps fading into oblivion.

* * *

 **Goodwitch's combat class, that afternoon**

Jaune stood at the ready, his new combat armor giving a faint glow, wingtips still closed, his sword in hand and his shield expanded. Weiss stood across from him, about 10 meters away, blade out in a fencer's pose, ready to strike and end the battle quickly. Both recognized that in a way, this bout was a proxy for the battle between the two teams over their friend Blanc. She didn't really understand what the big deal was; he was sure to recover, and yet Yang was distraught and distant. She'd not attended classes today, forcing Ruby to make excuses for her.

Jaune cut a fine figure in his new armor, she thought. It was ornate, attractive and with a faint glow to it like dust sewn into fabric, but the armor was obviously metallic. She'd seen Pyrrha's new armor, which looked similar, only more gold rather than Jaune's silver-white. The boy had improved a great deal; she was certain that if he were to face Cardin now he'd win easily, but she was a Schnee, and they knew nothing but success. He didn't look intimidated, however. It made him look stronger to her. She knew he was very serious with Pyrrha, not even flirting with her in his clumsy and unwelcome way, but looking at him now, he was a bit distracting.

"Go Weiss! Kick his heiney!" Weiss quirked her eyebrow up at her wayward partner and team leader. She'd long given up on telling her to stop; in fact she found it a bit endearing now. Ruby was beginning to cut a fine figure herself, growing into her body and womanhood. Weiss felt even more distracted, now wondering why she was making these observations at this point.

"Begin" Goodwitch called, and Weiss woke from her momentary stouper, her eyes drawing back from Ruby to her target, and then launched herself forward on a glyph. Jaune intercepted her strike with his shield, deflecting the blow and swinging in with his sword on her unprotected flank, but she sailed past him before he could land it, neither scoring a hit and both out of position. She quickly turned, preparing to strike him from behind as she used the deflection to guide her spin and shorten the time to put her blade back on target. She stopped her spin and slide, lunged back at the silver knight, and struck high at his chest, only for him to drop below her blade, his longer leg sweeping out and catching her forward foot, pulling it out from under her.

She probably flashed someone with her combat skirt, but she rolled with the fall and was up on her feet, slashing to keep the unexpected warrior back. Whatever training he'd been getting, he was significantly better than his last match had led her to believe; he was already striking, shield up to block while his blade slide along the edge. He blocked her slash, knocking it up and off balance, and stabbed. She was saved by a quick use of another glyph to propel her backward and out of his range.

She charged an ice round in Myrtenaster, preparing to fire and freeze the knight in place, winning the match without much effort. Use of dust wasn't prohibited, though it was discouraged, especially because even with aura it could cause lasting injuries and sometimes could cut right through it. She fired, and his armor's legs flaired in bright light, causing him to leap over her head across a distance of more than 15 meters, the ice bolt she fired forming ice harmlessly against the wall in the arena. He quickly spun, slapping her with the flat side of his blade and knocking her down.

Instead of backing off or gloating over his hit, he dropped down, shield first, onto her, pushing the air from her lungs. Her aura was now in the yellow, a bit below 50%, but he had her disabled. He quickly returned to his feet, sword at her throat. "Yield?" She didn't reply, slashing at him and causing him to block with his shield, allowing her to continue in the roll, her feet tangling into his. He stumbled but didn't fall, and she was soon up on her feet again, still gasping for air, but not out of the match yet.

They circled each other, looking for weaknesses, but Jaune's advantage at having winded Weiss was quickly disappearing as she regained her breath, so he pressed forward, shield up to block but his eyes open for a lower strike. Unfortunately for him, she simply backed off as he approached, jabbing to keep him back, until suddenly another glyph appeared, shoving her quickly forward and allowing her to strike him. It was a massive hit, propelled as it was by her semblance, and his aura drained into the yellow as well, but still over 50%. She spun in recovery from her hit, attempting to score another stab, only for him to duck under it again.

This time, he brought his shield up under her extended arm, catching the hilt of her blade on her return from her strike and prying it from her surprised hand. His sword had slipped back into an underhanded hold as he then stood and brought the blade up to her throat, pulling her forward with his shield-arm by catching her at the elbow. "Yield!" Disarmed, weakened, and demoralized at how much she'd underestimated her opponent, Weiss did just that, first nodding, then speaking it aloud.

"All right. I yield." Instead of the cheering he'd expected, however, there was only a stunned silence, broken by Ruby's "Woah."


	25. Chapter 25

**Beacon Infirmary, after combat class**

Yang wasn't sure she was welcome, but felt she had to try anyway. He was - well had been her boyfriend, even if only for a few days, and the guilt over her involvement with his injury and the desire just to see him, and make sure he was alive and okay, were overwhelming. His room wasn't hard to find; the infirmary was large for a school clinic but didn't generally have any long-term care rooms. A nurse directed her to one of the two rooms the infirmary did have. The door was open, so she peaked inside.

Ren and Nora were with him, as well as a nurse who was taking his vitals. He seemed peaceful, asleep and whole. His chest was rising and falling gently as the nurse checked his blood pressure. It was her who first noticed Yang, and while she said nothing, it was enough to alert the observant Lie Ren to her presence. Nora, on the other hand, was apparently asleep in her chair. Ren held up his hand to her, indicating for her not to come in, then joined her outside and motioned her down the hall.

"I'm not certain your presence is a good thing at this time, Xiao Long. Why are you here?" She wanted to give him a sassy look and reply with sarcasm, but decided diplomacy would serve her needs better. "I wanted to see him. Ren, I love him. You may not think it, and maybe I don't show it the way I should, but I can't stay away. I... I need to see him get better, talk with him and work out things between us. There's a bond between us, in our souls Ren. I know he'll wake up if I'm nearby."

Ren looked at her quizzically, but wasn't dismissive. "I've heard of such things; you must know that if Jaune or heaven forbid it, Pyrrha sees you that you will be inviting violence?" She nodded, unable to speak. "I'll make sure Nora says nothing, so long as you're quiet we can keep her asleep. Say what you must, do what you must, and then you must go before either Jaune or Pyrrha return. Speaking of, how did Jaune fair against Weiss?"

Yang's face grew a large smile, seemingly dashing Ren's hopes. "You'd should be proud of him Ren. He fought well and in the end forced Weiss to yield." Ren was astonished; yielding was uncommon in combat class - not insulting per say but it was an admittance that the other fighter had them outmatched. He would expect such from Jaune; indeed his friend had yielded several times, including to Weiss. "I think Pyrrha recorded it with her scroll; I'm sure they'll let you watch it." Ren noticed that she wasn't upset by her teammate's loss at all, but instead she seemed proud of their mutual friend's progress. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd still wipe the floor with him, but Weiss is a tough opponent and he handled her well." Ren raised his eyebrow. "She also underestimated him. I doubt he'd get her so well next time." To that, Ren seemed to accept what'd happened, planning to see if he could watch the bout later, and then led the blonde to her beau.

The nurse had left, and Nora was snoring lightly. Ren took to sitting at her feet, letting Yang pull his chair close to Blanc. She sat, took his hand, brought it to her lips, and kissed it.

"I'm so... so sorry. I love you so much, and the way you just casually dismissed dying... it hurt. It hurt so much and you'd driven me crazy already with your story and ..." She stopped and looked at Ren, eyes wide and fearful at what she'd admitted already. He calmed her. "He's already told us the truth of his origins, and apparently Ozpin and Goodwitch are also aware. I'll keep an eye for any staff, but if you keep your voice down you should be okay to be honest with him. I'll keep what I hear to myself, so long as I deem it innocent and in his interests." She accepted his terms. She could not afford to risk being removed. She turned back to her love, and began again.

"I'm sorry Blanc. I'm sorry for how I reacted, for not seeing to you better. I should have stayed and took care of you; instead I counted on your aura to help and left when I got the message about Blake. I didn't... I didn't want to leave you but I didn't think I had a choice, and ... they way you just accepted death like it was inevitable. How could you start a relationship with me, planning on getting yourself killed - on doing it intentionally?" She was beginning to get upset, and raising her voice, so she forced herself to be calm and was quiet. Looking over at Ren, he didn't appear to be doing anything other than keeping Nora soothed and asleep, but she knew he was listening.

"I can't accept your decision, Blanc. I love you too much to let you go; I love you too much to break up with you, and I love you too much to live without you. And to tell me that right after telling me you'd left me in the future, pregnant with our baby." Ren's sudden head movement as he shot up to look at her startled her and brought her attention back to the couple in the room. "Uhhh, I'm guessing he didn't tell you guys everything." Ren's eyes were on the man in the bed, however. "No, he very much did not. I do not think he has told anyone that, besides you. I cannot abide a man who abandons his family." Yang could tell there was something personal for Ren in this.

"Ren, please. I... I haven't said everything and it's not my story to tell, but he... he didn't really abandon me. I was... we were dead already. We'd died defending him so he could come back. Oh Ren, it's the most hopeless and heartrending story I've ever heard, and he blames himself for everything. He's... he's suicidal Ren and I have to save him. I can't... I don't think I can live without him anymore."

He turned to the girl, calmer and less upset at the man between them. "It sounds like an impossible choice, but I think you'll find you can live with almost anything, given the right incentive. And I do not think he takes his fate so lightly; he does seem resigned to it, but from having talked with him these weeks, it is obvious he does not want to die. I believe he feels he has no choice if he is to save humanity, and I'm not sure that he's wrong. What would you ask of him, Yang?"

She knew the considerations, the argument and she saw the logic. An unacceptable choice between the life she wanted, and the knowledge that the selfishness of that choice would doom everyone, including the family she believed she wanted with this man. But a large part of her didn't understand and couldn't accept this as a necessary sacrifice. Surely, there was some way...

"He won't tell us why he must die. Has he told you?" She nodded. "I know I can't tell you that, Ren. I can't tell anyone. He told me... he told me if the worst happens to remind Pyrrha about the book. Do you know what he's talking about?" Ren shook his head, as confused as she was. Yang turned back to Blanc and continued.

"Blanc. I need you to wake up. I need you to talk to me, to love me, to forgive me and hold me and help me find a way to keep this life I want with you and that you told me you want with me. I need you to not give up, to fight and come back to me. I need..."

Suddenly an angry voice growled in dulcet tones. "What is she doing here, Ren?"

* * *

 **Training Room, Schnee wing, Atlas Stronghold**

Blanc was sweating, trying to fend off his opponent's rapid strikes. In truth he knew that he'd fail, eventually. He always did. Success for him was measured in how long he could hold of the inevitable 'killing stroke'. Shorter reach, lesser control of his semblance, lack of ranged option... the only advantage he had was his massive aura, inherited from his father.

He parried a slash from his right as his opponent flashed by him, ducking down and spinning to catch the return stroke as his attacker spun and thrust again at him from behind. He successfully caught the blade again, pushing it to his left, and in a fit of pique, moved forward to slash, only to find his opponent had leapt behind him, blade now at the back of his neck. "You'll never win using only martial prowess, Blanc. No matter how well you move, or how you anticipate my strikes. You must master your semblance."

He knew it was good advice, painfully learned and repeated, but mastering glyphs, and more precisely, control over the flow of time, wasn't something accomplished on a whim; he spent a good portion of his day, every day and without fail, working on that and only that, to the neglect of his other studies. He sighed; it was a common refrain. She ruffled his hair, put Cresent Rose away, and pulled him into a hug. "I know you don't want to go back to training with your mother."

He winced at the memory of the last time; he had a scar from the stab wound. They walked back out together. "Yech, you need to shower, Blanc. Starting to smell like a teenager." She grinned at him. "Happy birthday."

He was 13.

* * *

 **Team RWBY's Room, after returning from Combat Class**

Weiss was fuming. "How could I lose to that ... baffoon!" Blake rolled her eyes. "You underestimated him, and it seemed like maybe he's been holding back." The white haired beauty looked like she was about to respond angrily, then stopped herself. "I know. That's what bothers me the most; I could have done better but I didn't think I needed to until it was already too late."

Ruby unlocked the door and held it open for the other two before shutting it. Her sister had gone off without them; she was pretty sure where. Ruby planned to take the opportunity to do her own talking. "Guys, we need to talk, and then I need to make some calls. I ... I love Yang but this is pretty serious. She's always been kinda like this but it's never gone so badly before. I don't know if she'll change, but I need you guys to support her and help me with her." Weiss looked like she didn't understand, but Blake gave a nod in affirmation immediately. "Weiss?"

"Why? I don't understand why everyone thinks she did something wrong. If he was hurt he shouldn't have gone to the docks like that."

Ruby's face screwed up but it was Blake who answered. Calmly, she responded "She shouldn't have hurt him in the first place, Weiss. They weren't sparing. She needs to express her anger in non-violent ways, especially to those she loves." Weiss just looked confused. "So, you think she really hurt him?"

Ruby's angry response was immediate. "Weiss, we know she hurt him. She doesn't even deny it. I love her but she used to hit Dad and I all the time too. Just... never that hard." Weiss seemed shocked, having never recongnized this pattern before. She had difficulty believing a woman could be wrong in her violence; her mother and Winter had always taught her that women were the ones abused, never the abusers. The dissonance of seeing how she could be wrong didn't sit well with her, and having been reminded of it, she didn't know how to respond.

"I need some air. I need to think about this." With that, she walked out and left them. Blake looked at Ruby, then proceeded to follow. "I'll make sure she doesn't get into any trouble on her own, and you can make those calls you want in privacy."

After she left, Ruby climbed into her bed and pulled out her scroll, finding her father's contact. She hesitated, thinking about what to say. In truth, Ruby was closer to her uncle Qrow, though that never made a lot of sense, but Yang was definitely her father's daughter, so he was the one to call first. Screwing up her courage, she taped the icon for him and waited on the call to connect, allowing the default video setting to remain on.

"Hey pumpkin, what's up?" He had a smile on his face; at this time of day he'd just be finishing up at Signal. "Dad, I need to talk to you, and it's important." Tears began to overflow her eyes and her vision blurred, giving Taiyang a sense of how urgent it might be. "You're not homesick, are you? I mean, you've been there for months Ruby."

"Dad, it's not me. It's Yang; she did something very bad, and..."

Taiyang looked angry. "Tell me his name, Ruby." Her tears stopped in her confusion. "What... how do you... why do you want to know his name?" The blonde man looked at her and said nothing, but when she didn't tell him, he got frustrated. "Ruby, just give me the bastard's name already!" She was shocked at how quickly her father got angry; she'd never seen this side of him. "Dad, would you listen to me? Yang needs our help. She hurt him really badly."

"I should think so, but it's nothing compared to what I'm going to do. I'll be there as soon as I can." Ruby was shocked, this wasn't going the way she expected at all. "Wait, Dad..." but he disconnected their call. She sat there a moment, then tried to call back, but it just rang with no answer. She didn't understand what had happened. Since her dad wouldn't answer, she sent him a memo instead.

"Dad, call me. You have the wrong idea. - Ruby"

Now she would wait for him to read her message and call back, hopefully before he arrived. She didn't know what he thought Blanc had done, but she wasn't going to give her father his name when the man was talking about hurting him.


	26. Chapter 26

**Beacon Training Pavilion, Late afternoon**

Weiss took aim at the beowulf in mid-jump, firing a dust round and intercepting her target. She'd been practicing firing at airborne targets in motion since leaving team RWBY's dorm, having analysed her fight with Jaune and looking for weaknesses to correct. Unfortunately, it wasn't the same. Jaune had some sort of thrust from his legs; something in that new armor he had. She wasn't sure where he got it, but it was a leap forward in armor technology that she was sure Atlas, and in particular Schnee Industries, would be interested in acquiring.

Weiss knew she was by the door, watching. She'd been following her, quietly, since leaving. Weiss found she didn't mind; in point of fact she welcomed her presence. It would be difficult to call Blake a friend, but certainly it was closer to that than anything else. Blake had more experience fighting fast moving targets and had provided some advice, but had kept quiet otherwise. Neither was a fool; Jaune had won because Weiss had expected an easy fight and hadn't prepared or planned. She hadn't paid attention to his bouts much, hadn't given any credence when Ruby had warned that the other boy - man really, had been training him and that Jaune wouldn't be an easy fight. She'd assumed it was Ruby sticking up for her friend, but now she was starting to see that even her opinion of Ruby was off.

She'd been thrown for a loop over Yang and what her teammates said she'd done; it went against her worldview. Her father was a strong man, a patriarch, but he was overly controlling, full of traits she knew weren't good that reinforced what her mother and sister had taught her about men in general; easy to manipulate, brutish and selfish ... even looking at it now, her ideas were so narrow and distorted. This event, things with Blake and the faunus and White Fang, her defeat by Jaune... her world and her mind were expanding. A good thing, she supposed, but uncomfortable.

Blake stood and watched. Weiss was a strong personality, opinionated, but she knew the girl was intelligent and open to change. And Blake could tell that Weiss was working through these changes in her reality, the way she had worked through them once she recognized what Adam was doing. Blake had been quiet about hers, careful not to give any of her brothers in the fang, and particularly Adam, a clue at her change of thought. Such a thing might have lead to her torture or death; it was a big part of what led her to decide she had to leave rather than staying and trying to reform Adam or steer them away from his path.

Weiss struck another beowulf out of the air, easily. Blake knew this wasn't really going to help Weiss with hitting targets out of the air; this wasn't how Weiss handled targets anyway. She recognized venting frustration, however, so she stood and watched, supporting what she hoped would be a good friend.

* * *

 **Beacon Infirmary**

Pyrrha got right in her face. "You shouldn't be here. He's here because of you and your inability to control yourself. Get out!" Yang, not used to being pushed around, retaliated. "And who's going to make me leave, you princess?" Yang schooled her face, mustering her courage, but she wasn't certain that if it came to blows, she could win. Yang was good, a great hand-to-hand fighter, but Pyrrha was a champion, through and through, and she knew the girl wasn't limited to fighting with her spear and shield.

Pyrrha said nothing, instead grabbing the blond and yanking her toward the door, surprisingly Yang with the amount of power even as she'd expected something like this. Ren had begun to stand as Nora woke up. "Pyrrha, wait..." Pyrrha's head jerked to her friend. "I will not. Why did you let her in here? He's helpless and can't defend himself."

Ren sighed. "Pyrrha, I'm right here. So is Nora. I don't believe Yang would hurt him, but she certainly wouldn't without us stopping her. She is still our friend." Pyrrha listened, and released Yang, but her anger remained. "She put him here, because she's impulsive. Because she lacks control, our friend nearly died." Yang gasped, having not known how bad it had been. Ren turned toward her. "He's fine. He's recovering Yang." Turning back to Pyrrha, he returned to their conversation. "I've no doubt he'd want her here." At that, Pyrrha deflated - he was right. She agreed - despite what Yang had done, she knew Blanc would want Yang here with him. "Jaune will go ballistic."

* * *

"Shh. Good kid, now, just stick that in there and pull down."

"Grandpa, I don't think we're supposed to be doing this. Momma's gonna be mad." Blanc was worried. He loved spending time with Grandpa, but the old man would drink from his flask and then they'd get into mischief. Aunty Rose would get mad at Grandpa and then laugh it off, but Momma would stay mad, and when Grandpa left, Momma would punish him.

"Nonsense, we're just going to go for a little ride, then come right back." So Blanc pulled, finally wedging it up when he pulled with all his weight. At 6, Blanc was getting to be a big boy finally, able to go out and play without Momma or Aunty Rose watching him all the time. Even so, this wasn't his first adventure with Grandpa.

In the distance, he could hear Aunty Rose calling for him and Grandpa in a worried voice. "Grandpa, I think we should go back."

"Nah kid, we're already done." Grandpa twisted a couple of wires together, and the engines on the big flying machine started to make a lot of noise. Aunty Rose and Momma would fly off in this thing for their job. He also knew the noise would attract the woman searching for them both, and sure enough, he could see the rose petals darting toward them from the other side of their place in Patch.

But Grandpa got to the controls and pulled on the stick and flicked some switches, and before Aunty Rose could get him, the big machine jumped into the air and began to fly away. Now, Blanc was scared. He could hear yelling, but it didn't sound like Aunty Rose or Momma, or even Grandpa Qrow. It sounded like Aunty Yang arguing with someone else... and maybe uncle Ren? But Uncle Ren was gone. Momma said he was never coming back...

"Now Blanc, come up here and sit there. I think it's time you learned to fly this bird." Blanc always did as he was told, and Grandpa always got him in so much trouble.

* * *

Patch was only a few hours by flight, and being a hunter himself, her Dad would have access to Signal's bullhead. Fortunately, that meant her father would be in one place; she just had to wait for him there. He also wouldn't know where to find Blanc, because she hadn't given him the name, but that didn't mean she wasn't still worried. Gathering a few things, she stepped out of her dorm, and just as she was closing the door, ran into Jaune.

"Hey Jaune, great fight today! I mean, I'm disappointed for Weiss but so excited for you! You were like wham, and she was like Pow, and then you did that thing and she's like 'Fine, I yield'. It was so awesome!" The blonde smiled at her. "Glad you liked it Ruby. I've been working hard, training with... with Pyrrha and the others." His head dipped down, so Ruby came up to comfort her friend and see what was wrong. "Jaune?"

"Ruby, did you ever have a secret? A secret so big you just couldn't tell it, but you just couldn't stand to hold it in anymore?"

She thought a moment, then replied "Well, we all have secrets but I can't say that I have. Is this a good secret or a bad secret?" He shrugged. "I don't know. Both I guess. I..."

"If it's about Pyrrha, we already know." He looked up at her, startled. "You do? How? I mean, when did he tell you? Did he tell Yang and she told you guys or did he tell you all or what? We were supposed to not say anything but I guess..."

"What are you talking about Jaune? I mean about you two dating. Everyone knows you're dating." He scruffed the back of his head, ruffling his hair. "Ah, yeah. Well, we weren't really keeping that a secret. We're trying to, you know, take it a bit slow. Its our first relationship and we don't want to mess it up. Kinda hard when you live together though..."

"Well, what secret do you mean? And who told Yang what? ... YOU must mean Blanc. What did he tell you? He told me something just like you, that there was something he wanted to tell me but couldn't. Why can't you tell me?" Jaune looked away, but Ruby saw the expression on his face and a piece of the puzzle fell into place. "Wait a minute, why does he look so much like you?"

Jaune was started. "Sorry Ruby, I gotta go." He unlocked their room, darted in, and shut the door as quickly as possible, while Ruby remained stunned in the hallway. She went to knock and demand he talk to her, then remembered her father, and decided to let it go for the time being. "One thing at a time, Ruby."

On the other side of the door, Jaune had his back pressed against it, heart beating rapidly, before he heard Ruby step away instead of beating on the door demanding an explanation. He'd almost messed up; obviously Blanc hadn't told her yet, but she was putting it together and he didn't know how long they could keep this secret. He was terrible at keeping secrets anyway.

Sighing, he moved away, gathering some things for Pyrrha and him to spend the evening with Blanc. The doctor had said he could wake up at any time, and Jaune wanted to be there if he could. He couldn't wait to tell his son about his match with Weiss. He finished stuffing the bag, then quickly checking out the door, headed out to go to the infirmary and meet the woman he loved and the man who was his son but he looked up to like a father.

* * *

 **Beacon Bullhead Terminal**

Ruby sat on a bench and waited for her father's arrival, intent on not missing him and having things get worse. While she waited, she thought about what Jaune had let slip and why Jaune and Blanc looked so much alike. Were they twins? No, they were too different to be identical twins, and too similar to be fraternal, plus they differed in age significantly, she thought she remembered.

Brothers perhaps? Even half-siblings, like her and Yang? But if that was it, why keep it a secret? Perhaps Blanc was the product of an affair; Jaune had seven sisters, and presumably most were older. Possible, but she thought there'd be more bad blood between them if that were the case. And it hardly seemed likely, given her and Yang, that the two would keep that a secret and guard it to this degree. Plus, it felt like she already knew Blanc, even though she couldn't explain why, but evidently Blanc could? Maybe he'd known her as a very young child - but they weren't that far apart in age. Although, Yang seemed to know him equally well, so maybe.

But she couldn't remember any family with a white-haired mother, and she knew from a picture on Jaune's nightstand that his parents were both blondes. It seemed unlikely he'd have that coloring; she'd only ever seen hair that white on Weiss and old people. Could he be related to Weiss? Ruby pondered it, thinking about what she knew about Weiss; she didn't have much idea of the extendes Schnee family, if one existed, but she knew Weiss had an older sister and a younger brother, a domineering father, and perhaps an abused mother who might seek the comfort of another man, like Jaune's father? Perhaps that happened, but Weiss didn't know anything about it - that much was certain, and while she didn't seem to like Blanc much, she didn't seem to hate him either, or recongnize him in any way. Plus, why would she and Yang know him then; there were no Schnees on patch and as far as she knew, never had been, and no Arcs either.

Maybe a nephew or a cousin? Again, why keep that a secret? The longer she waited, the more exagerated and unlikely her scenarios became; Blanc was a clone? A dimensional traveler? A relative from Jaune's past? Perhaps Blanc was Jaune's father and the trip turned his hair white... Or maybe Blanc was from the future, a child of Jaune and...

Ruby dismissed the notion as being farcical. If anything with the way Jaune was hung up on Pyrrha, she'd expect Blanc to have red or blonde hair, or something in between like strawberry blonde. She began to think about the fruit and got distracted. "Something on your mind, sweetheart? You didn't need to wait for me; I was going to come to your dorm to talk."

She looked up into the eyes of her father. "Dad! I didn't hear you land. How long have you been here?" He chuckled at her, ruffling her hair. "You were pretty deep in thought; I've already got the bullhead fueling for the return. Now, I need you to give me his name." Ruby looked at her father and pretended she didn't know what he was talking about. "Who, Professor Ozpin?"

Taiyang sighed. "No, Ruby. You know who I mean. The boy. Now." He put on his 'dad-face', a strict look that had always worked on her in the past. "Dad, don't you think i'm a bit old for you to manipulate with that look?" Oh well, he had to try. "Ruby, just tell me his name."

"Dad, where's your scroll? I tried to call you to keep you from coming. When you wouldn't answer I sent you a memo to call." He checked his pockets, finding nothing. "Uh, I must've left it at home. I'm here now anyway. The name, Ruby. And where do I find him."

"Dad, why do you need his name? He's done nothing wrong." His head quirked to the side. "If not, then why did you call me? You said Yang was in trouble." Ruby nodded. "She is. Her boyfriend..." Taiyang stopped her. "Who?" Without thinking, Ruby replied. "Blanc. Try to keep up dad... wait, you tricked me! DAD!" He smirked. "Okay, one down. Now, where do I find this boy."

Ruby stared at him and said nothing. Finally tiring, he sat next to her and turned away from her, watching the bullhead from Signal get some routine maintenance while it was fueling up. "Why are you being so stubborn about this?" She turned to her father, replying "Because you don't know what's going on and you aren't listening. Blanc didn't do anything!"

Taiyang, calmer than when she'd called earlier, decided to take a moment and listen to Ruby. "Okay then, lay it out for me. What is going on? Why did you call me and tell me Yang is in trouble?" Ruby began, trying to look in her father's eyes. "Blanc is Yang's boyfriend." His knuckles cracked, gripping the seat. "Dad, what's the big deal? He's not her first boyfriend or anything."

"How far along is she, Ruby." The girl looked puzzled. "We started Beacon months ago Dad; it's almost the end of the semester." His eyes bugged out. "She's been pregnant this long and no one thought to tell me?"

"PREGNANT? NO!" She screamed, suddenly becoming aware of how much her cry had caught the attention of people nearby, suddenly looking at the young girl and the older man and giving them strange looks. "Ruby, keep your voice down." He hissed at her. "What do you mean, no? Why did you call then?"

"Dad, they're not doing that - at least I don't think they are. She did stay overnight at his place once but she said she they didn't do that and I believe her... I shouldn't have said that." She could tell by the look in her father's eyes that she shouldn't have been so forthcoming. "She's not in trouble because she's ... pregnant. She's in trouble for hitting him."

Taiyang was relieved. "Oh Ruby, she hits people all the time. How much trouble can she be in?" Ruby looked grave. "Dad, don't you think that's a problem? Uncle Qrow told me you used to have a big temper too, but you got control over it. She put him in the infirmary." The man looked smug. "So that's where the little twerp is, defiling my daughter." Ruby gave a big sigh, responding "Dad, just stop. He hadn't done anything, but she hurt him really badly."

"Must be a pretty big wimp if she hit him and put him in the infirmary.

Ruby grabbed his hands. "Dad, he didn't have his aura up. She hit him in the head, and later he fought at the docks, helping us save our teammate Blake, and when we got back he was unconscious outside the sky ferry. We don't know how long he was there but they wanted to take him to the hospital, only they thought he wouldn't live long enough for that." Now her father knew how serious things were. "So, they're going to expel her?"

Ruby shook her head. "I don't think any of the professors or staff know she hit him. Dad, why did you let her grow up hitting people? She didn't hit me hard, but she used to hit you and Uncle Qrow all the time, and she used to hit kids at school when she got mad, and you always covered for her and made excuses, and now she's in trouble."

"Ruby, you knew your mother, but Yang, well, she really didn't. She knew Raven had left and it made her angry, and she needed to vent that frustration. If she's not going to get expelled, what's the big deal? Hunters are supposed to be tough, and aura heals you, honey."

"Dad, it didn't heal this, and she really cares about him - maybe loves him. She's really hurt, and team juniper, that's Blanc's closer friends, they all turned their back on her over this. And I can't blame them." The man sighed. "Ruby, she's your sister - family. We always stand with our family, honey."

"Dad, she needs help, not more pretending it's okay. She could have gotten into real trouble, maybe she still could. If... when he wakes up, he might report her for what she did, and then what?" Taiyang got angry at the idea of his girl being punished. "He won't do that; I'll have a few words with him, and maybe your Uncle Qrow too. We'll set him straight."

"Dad, you're doing it again. He didn't do anything wrong. She needs your help learning to control her temper, not covering up her abusing people. She doesn't want to be like this, can you see?"

And he did. He remembered fights with Raven, who had a hotter temper than him. Physical brawls that left them bruised and sometimes bloody and always led to great angry sex; he was pretty sure that's how Yang was conceived. They both had a firey, angry nature and despite that it seemed well suited to them both. At least, until she'd left without a word as to why or when she was coming back... if she was coming back.

He'd been angry and hurt, ready to lash out, but he had this beautiful newborn girl to care for, the apple of his eye, and he couldn't let her down getting into random brawls and abandoning her the way Raven had. Summer had set him straight; her and Qrow, of all people. Qrow had even tried to bring Raven back, only to get a hospital stay for his trouble. So, Taiyang Xaio Long had put his anger away, replacing it with joy in his daughter and sorrow in his failed love, took up the mantle of fatherhood and adulthood, and doted, perhaps a bit too much, on his only daughter. At least, until Ruby came along, the apple of her mother's eye, and he found out just why the Branwen twins couldn't stay with their children.

"Okay. I guess it's time for that talk. And you're sure she's not pregnant?"

"DAD!"


	27. Chapter 27

**Beacon Infirmary, Late Afternoon**

Jaune entered, waived to the duty nurse at the reception desk, then proceeded back toward Blanc's room. He could hear murmuring; Pyrrha talking with someone, probably Ren or Nora. Without slowing, he opened the door to the room. "Hey guys! I picked up some stuff for Pyrrha and I so you can... what the hell is she doing here?" His gaze had been drawn to his son, and from there, the blonde woman holding his hand, no looking at him with something he'd never seen on her face before: fear.

"Jaune, wait. Let's talk about this." He didn't think about what he was doing, simply striding toward the interloper who he held responsible for what happened. Ren tried to stand up and get in his way, but Nora was leaning on him, slowing his motions too much. Yang put her hands up, defensively, which did give Jaune pause, but didn't stop his stride. "Jaune, at least hear her out." It wasn't Ren's voice he was hearing, but... Pyrrha? He turned to her, a look of betrayal on his face.

"How could you let this happen? How could any of you let this happen? She could be in here finishing the job she started and..." he turned back toward the terrified woman. "Okay, that's not really reasonable. Yang, get out. Get out now, or so help me..." Having stopped and everyone having time for their brain to catch up, Yang turned from fearful to arrogant. "Or what, Jaune? You'll make me?" Jaune didn't hesitate, surprising everyone. His hand shot out and grabbed the blonde by the throat, his aura flaring as he lifted her off the ground by it, her face beginning to turn blue.

Pyrrha was on him in an instant, pulling his hand apart to release their friend. "Jaune, stop! Jaune, you're scaring me! Snap out of it." He looked over at her, seeing the fear and hurt on the face of the woman he loved, and instantly his aura stopped flowing and his muscles relaxed, falling backward onto his butt, shocked at what he'd been doing as Yang sputtered and coughed. He started scooting back and away from her, ashamed of himself, and everyone stared at him, shocked, except Yang who was struggling to get more air into her lungs, and Pyrrha who was comforting her, and his son, who lay in the bed, unaware. His back hit the far wall, and his head dropped into his hands. "Why? Why won't you just leave him alone?"

Yang coughed again, but despite not having enough air after being choked, replied stiltedly. "Because I love him." Jaune didn't raise his head, didn't look at her, but he listened. "Because I love him, and he loves me." Instead of coming at Jaune, Yang pulled the chair back, sat down, and still breathing hard, took his hand into hers again, stroking it with her thumb. Instead, Pyrrha left her, kneeling down to him. "Jaune, at least listen. I know it's hard, but you can do this. I believe her, and I'm certain you will as well."

"What's all this, then?" Asked a blonde adult at the door. Yang turned, shocked. "Dad?"

* * *

 **Outside Beacon Infirmary, just before**

Ruby was escorting her father to see Blanc, believing that to be the likely location of his wayward daughter Yang. Tiayang had finally calmed down, getting over the idea that his daughter might be pregnant with the reassurance that it wasn't, but that his daughter still needed him. They spoke to the nurse at the front desk, but she declined to let them go back. "I'm afraid I've already let too many back there as is. I'm sorry."

Taiyang nodded, prepared to wait, until he heard a commotion and even the nurse looked concerned. Without waiting, he headed back, Ruby following close behind, and found them quickly. The shouting had stopped, but one blonde boy was against the wall, cradling his head in his hands, Yang was sitting at the bed, holding the hand of a bedridden man with grey-white hair, which he assumed must be Blanc. "What's all this then?"

"Dad?" Clearly, she wasn't expecting him. Then again, it'd only been a few hours since Ruby's original call; he'd come straight away. That was going to be an expensive trip; the school would want compensated for the fuel he'd used. Normally, he got it compensated as part of a hunter mission or for transporting someone else, but he hadn't had time to wait. Well, he could afford it for his girl. "Hey, my little dragon." She got up, approaching him for a hug.

When she slugged him in the shoulder, an angry look on her face, he was confused. "What the... Yang, what's gotten into you?"

"How could you lie to us, all these years? How could you like to Ruby? To me?" Taiyang was confused. "Honey, I don't know what you're talking about." She stared at him, waiting, then replied with one word. "Qrow." Taiyang schooled his features. "What about him? He's been gone, doing something for Ozpin I think. Why did you hit me?" When Yang's eyes turned toward Ruby, who looked equally confused, and the shocked looks on everyone else's faces at her audacity, but the anger didn't dissipate from his daughter, he knew they were caught. "Oh. Umm... now isn't the right time to talk about it. I'm hear to talk to you, about ... well about you. And about this." It was a good diversion.

Yang looked contrite, her blow having played right into Ruby's concerns. "We're not done talking about this, and if you don't tell Ruby, I'll tell her. Come on, we can talk about this back in our dorm." She walked back to the bed, leaned over, and kissed the boy softly on the lips. It was a chaste kiss, but in that moment, Taiyang knew he'd lost his daughter to another man. It was the sort of kiss a woman gives the man she loves with all her heart, the sort that would last. The sort he'd never received from Raven but always thought he would, and the sort he'd seen his friend Summer give her husband Qrow before he left to find his sister, leaving behind a pregnant secret wife in the trust of their mutual best friend.

Yang stood back up, eyes still closed, savoring the kiss, then she opened her eyes, lialac again, and walked to take her father's arm. Confused, Ruby did the same with his other arm, and the trio left the confused team JNPR behind, caring for their wounded friend. As they were leaving, they could hear the father say "I do hope you plan to let me meet the man who stole your heart from me." It was that moment that Jaune realized how right Pyrrha had been, and how necessary Yang would be to Blanc, because he knew Blanc felt the same.

"Oh Pyrrha, what a mess I've made." The statuesque woman helped lift her man into her arms. "We'll get through it together. We've got each other." Nora grabbed Ren, and pulled him in, wrapping her arms around the other three. "GROUP HUG!" Behind them from the bed, they heard a cough, and a wheezed out "Where's mine?"

* * *

 **Beacon Campus, outside Infirmary**

"So, I guess you ought to tell me about this boy of yours." Taiyang felt like it would be a good distraction and give him some time to come up with something to tell the two girls. Before Yang could say anything, Ruby interupted. "We can talk about Blanc later. What is Yang talking about?" The father was stunned; not only had his ploy not worked, but the naive daughter was the one to ignore it completely. Fortunately for him, Yang came to his rescue. "Ruby, I think that's something we really should talk about in private. I'm sorry for bringing it up in front of every like that, Dad." Yang began to tell her father about her man.

"Blanc is a great guy. He's doing well here, and he's incredibly skilled in combat. He took me to The Warf for lunch the other day on our first date, and offered to cut it short when Blake got in trouble. I... I don't know how he knew where to find her when she needed help but he was there at the docks. I didn't see the battle but Ruby was there." Ruby took over. "It was pretty spectacular; he just sort of came out of nowhere after I got shot."

The father interrupted her. "Wait, you were shot?" He stopped the two girls and started desperately looking over Ruby for injuries. "Dad, stop! I'm fine. It was a dust round and my aura took it just fine. Knocked me down is all. Penny, that's my new friend from ... well I don't know where she's from but she dropped off the roof and these swords came out of her backpack and were flying around and shooting lasers and boom boom boom she was" Taiyang took her by the shoulder. "Slow down sweetie". Eventually, between Yang and Ruby interupting each other the way siblings tend to do, they got the story out to the eldest Xiao Long just before winding up at the door to their dorm, which Yang promptly unlocked.

"Okay, we're here now so it's time to talk about the Goliath in the room. Dad, care to tell Ruby what I meant?" The blonde man pulled up one of their desk chairs, inconvenienced by the inability to sit in it backwards. "Well, um... I'm not really prepared for this..." When Yang started to speak, he stopped her with a wave of his hand. "Okay... okay. Ruby, you need to understand... well I want you to understand anyway. I love you, you know that, right?" She nodded her head, worried and more like the girl she'd been before Beacon than the woman she was becoming now. "Summer was beautiful and wonderful and she helped raise you both, for the time she was with us. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her... but Summer wasn't... well, Raven was... is my wife. She didn't change her name; that custom went out with the great war, but Raven and I... we're still married. Yang, I still love your mother, even after all she's done. I can't help it."

Ruby spoke up. "So why did you get with my mom then?" Taiyang looked uncomfortable, and said nothing. After a bit, Yang spoke up to prompt him forward. "Ruby, he didn't." This shocked the young girl. "What? But... if you didn't then... was it some sort of accident? Did she... did she go to a clinic or something?" The father got up, taking Ruby into his arms to comfort her, Yang coming up to give support. "No sweetie, no. You were born out of love; the love between two of the best people I've ever known. Ruby, Summer was married to Qrow Branwen. We were all part of the same team, spent so much time together, it was just natural. Raven fit my ... well she fit my personality well, or so I thought, and Qrow was smitten with Summer as soon as he saw her. I mean, your parents dated around a bit at Beacon but they only really ever had eyes for each other, and after graduation, they didn't deny it anymore."

"Wait..." Ruby was confusing, eyes darting around, looking for an escape. "Wait... you're... you're not my dad? Uncle Qrow is my dad? Why... Why would you tell me... why... I... why would he leave me there with you if... what's so wrong with me?" Yang snatched the girl out of her father's arms. "Ruby, Oh Ruby, nothing is wrong with you. You're wonderful; don't ever think anything else." Taiyang took them both back in his arms again. "You're still both my girls."

"Why did he leave?" Ruby's voice was tinged with growing anger. Yang replied "I don't know... why did he leave, Dad?" Now both girls were angry with the man.

"I guess it's time to tell the story. This isn't a good one; there will be lots of things you learn that you don't like. We made mistakes and we're not perfect, and I guess you're both old enough to understand, and we've let this go too long." He sighed, settling in, and the girls settled down on Weiss' bed, together in solidarity.

"Raven was a great wife, but... she didn't take to motherhood. She loved you Yang, but her people, well, they have some odd notions about parenting and survival of the fittest and... I just couldn't let you be raised that way. She left; took off to take over leadership of her tribe of nomads. Qrow says they're raiders but I just can't... I just can't accept that's what Raven is... She didn't have an easy pregnancy with you, Yang, and I think she was depressed after you were born, and tired all the time, and ... I just thought she'd come back but after a year, she still hadn't. By then, Summer and Qrow were living with me, helping me raise you... And then Summer got pregnant. They were so... so happy, but Qrow decided he couldn't let things rest. He went to look for your mother, promising he'd return with her. I begged him to stay; stay for you and Summer, but even she agreed with him. So, Summer stayed with me, and Qrow left to find his sister. I guess he did but he couldn't get her to come back. Qrow's a great fighter, but Raven... she's in a league above him. He couldn't make her, he couldn't talk to her... he said she'd taken up with someone else when he came back to be there when you were born."

He continued. "So, the three of us raised you, Yang, and then you both Ruby, and well, you acted just like sisters rather than cousins. We didn't see the harm, so we let it go. Then Qrow started getting calls from Ozpin; Summer and I did too, but Qrow was the one called the most because of one of the inherited traits he and Raven have; made them perfect for what Ozpin needed. He was just... gone all the time. Ruby, Yang... Summer and I were never like that. She only ever loved Qrow, and I never saw her that way anyway. After... after Summer passed away on a mission, Qrow couldn't handle it. He just... he left for a long time. I thought he might have gone back to join Raven... or worse. Eventually he did come back, but by then you were calling me daddy, my little rose, and he didn't have the heart to tell you different, especially when he knew he'd be gone all the time anyway. By then I was teaching at Signal, so I rarely left, and frankly with two young girls I couldn't unless it was a day mission. I tried to avoid them because the risk of what would happen if I didn't come back... Raven would have taken you both and I couldn't bear to let that happen. Neither could Qrow."

Ruby's whispering voice spoke up. "Is that why you always treat Yang better? I'm not your... real daughter?" Taiyang was shocked. "Honey, I never treated you worse. I love you both!" Yang spoke up. "You kind of did, Dad. I mean, I always thought it wasn't intentional and ... but even I saw it." The blonde man muttered to himself. "No wonder Qrow get pissed at me so often."

Yang's scroll went off, then Ruby's. She picked up, then her face lit up in excitement. "Come on! He's awake!"


	28. Chapter 28

**Village Tavern, east of Vale**

Qrow slammed his glass down on the counter, not hard enough to break it, but the ice took a hop out and landed back in. He'd been tracking white fang movements, particularly some character named Adam Taurus. Getting that name had required some... creative application of pain, and a few threats. Unfortunately the grunt hadn't known much more, and eventually Qrow had to accept that. The grunt didn't care; corpses never do.

His scroll vibrated. He wasn't so drunk not to notice, and out here in the field intel might be a matter of life and death. He was on an extended leave from Signal, being paid for this op through Beacon's slush fund - Oz was hardly generous but this was important work and Qrow was on his own out here. He'd also had to do the occasional hunter's mission while here; grimm never waited and the people always needed more help. He'd just returned from an extermination mission - fortunately it had gone well. His semblance provided easy escapes and free transport; grimm couldn't seem to detect him or his sister when they were transformed. That was his backup in case something got out of hand. Qrow knew that one day his number would come up and it wouldn't be enough.

Qrow could feel the picture burning; he still carried her with him wherever he went. He missed her now more desperately than ever; he'd though he'd get two years of Ruby before she left but ... he pulled out his scroll, checking his messages. Tai had sent him a memo. "They know." Who? He tapped out a response.

"Who knows what?"

He waited a few minutes, ordering another drink, and telling the woman behind the counter to leave the bottle. She was fetching, a bit on the heavier side but that hourglass shape some men preferred; voluptuous was the word. Unfortunately, that part of him seemed to be dead. After Summer... after her he couldn't seem to love anyone the way he should, other than Ruby, and if he was honest, she'd be ashamed of the deception they'd allowed. He'd tried with Winter, but she was cold and emotionless, only interested in sex, and after a while that got old. They only thing they had in common, besides sex, had been a love of the fight. He'd thought maybe he could have rebuilt his life with her after his first wife, but... whatever Atlas did to her, the nesting instinct, the desire to have a family, to stay faithful to a partner... all of that was gone in her. And Qrow didn't like to share his toys, or be shared by them.

Even if the girl Winter had brought back with her had reminded him of Summer for a few moments...

His scroll vibrated again; he looked at it, reading the message. "The girls. Jig is up. Come home."

Well shit.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy Courtyard**

Her father put his scroll away. She didn't know who he was memoing but she had a good guess; regardless it didn't damper her mood. She was both excited and apprehensive; it was wonderful that Blanc was awake and recovering quickly, but the coming conversation between them might not go well. She didn't want to think about that, but she knew he now had every reason to break things off with her, and she didn't know how to handle that.

"Yang?" Ruby questioned her in that tone that let Yang know her sister knew she wasn't okay. "I'm sorry, I'm just distracted. I'm worried Blanc is going to dump me." Taiyang looked at his daughter, a woman really though perhaps not fully ready for the responsibilities of adulthood, and decided to give her a fatherly talk before she went into this. He didn't now the boy, but if Yang was this ... infatuated with him, then he needed to at least be open-minded about it. Yang hadn't shown poor judgement in boys before. "Ruby, can you go on ahead? I want to talk to Yang for a minute, and it'll be easier for her if you aren't interfering."

Yang grabbed her sister as she was about to leave, pulling her back. "Dad, I think she's ready for whatever you want to talk to me about; she may be 15 but she's a huntress in training; she can drink and screw if she wants." Taiyang slapped his face with both hands, then dragged them down. "Please, let's not talk about that, particularly the last part." He waited for a moment, but seeing neither agreement nor disagreement, he decided to start.

"Yang, you have a volatile personality; there's no getting around it with your mother and I as your parents. We were both quick-tempered and though I've mellowed a lot, thanks to you girls, I think this whole trip here should remind you that I'm still quick to judgement. Anyone who's going to be with you, well, they need to learn to deal with that, and to forgive."

"Dad, you wouldn't be telling me to forgive a guy if he smacked me into a coma in the hospital, especially because I said the wrong thing at the wrong time."

"Sweety, that's not what I'm trying to tell you. You're going to make mistakes - he will too if he's human. You both need to learn to work with each other and forgive those mistakes. I admit, this is a doozy. Your mother never knocked me unconscious even if we fought a lot. And we fought physically for fun and foreplay... forget I said that." He said as his two girls cried out "Dad, gross!" and "Dude!"

"You're going to have to learn to control that impulsiveness, not just for relationship issues, but for life as a huntress. True, you can't hesitate, but you also need to make a thoughtful and planned decision. If you rush in, you might just doom whoever is with you as well as whoever or whatever you're trying to protect. Fights might be technique and strength, but battles and wars are won with tactics and strategies, and often with luck. Relationships are just as complex, and you won't be able to overpower the person you love or counter their style. Anyway, if he's worthy of you, he'll forgive you."

"Dad, I'm not even sure I can forgive myself. I've been really introspective lately - stop chuckling Ruby, I know big words too. Anyway, I've been looking at my past and while I wasn't a bully, I was often a fist-firsts kind of gal. How deserving am I of forgiveness or his love? Dad, he's... he's just about too perfect, for me anyway..."

"Too perfect usually means something horrible you just can't see, pumpkin." He responded, now worried. "Wait... Blanc... is this the ... I need to talk to Oz."

Ruby chimed in, asking her dad if he meant the professor. He responded affirmatively, then told them to go on without him, as he was going to find the esteemed headmaster, then he'd join them later, and hopefully meet Blanc without the pressure of that looming conversation he knew Yang was worried about.

"Don't worry sweetheart; it'll work out however it is supposed to work out. And remember, we love you." He hugged his daughter, then his... his niece, gave them both kisses on the head, and headed back to the clock tower, while the two girls turned and continued their journey to see the white-haired hunter.

"Yang? It'll be okay. There's a lot going on, but we'll take it on, together, like we always have, okay?" Yang nodded, unable to speak for fear she'd break down. She was scared now, dreading the conversation, despair like none she'd felt since realizing her mother didn't love her and probably never would. Ruby could see it in her eyes and her face as Yang's filled with tears, ready to spill. She pulled her sister - she refused to think of her as anything else at this point, biology be damned - into a tight hug, whispering soothing nothings and murmurs to her the way Yang had comforted Ruby. Yang calmed down in under a minute, wiping her tears away, finding her resolve and he courage, and ultimately, her hope.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy Infirmary, Blanc's room**

There was a jovial attitude among the five friends as the healer-on-duty checked Blanc, and let them know he would need to stay overnight for observation, but they expected him to be able to leave the following morning if everything went as expected. Blanc shook the healer's hand, and then the woman left. "That's great news, Blanc!" Nora was excited. "We must have pancakes to celebrate!"

"Nora, we have pancakes all the time." Ren replied, but the woman was not to be persuaded. "As if that's a reason to have something else. Right Blanc?"

"Hmm? Oh, sure. Pancakes are great." With that, Nora jumped on her boyfriend, and Jaune and Blanc shared a grimace for their long-suffering friend. The door opened, and rather than a nurse, two sisters joined the group, one excited, and the other nervous. "You're awake!" Ruby rushed over to Blanc, rose petals in her wake. "When can you leave? We should celebrate!"

"Yeah, with pancakes!" quickly followed by "Nora!" from the rest of team JNPR. The two girls who'd joined them seemed confused, but both decided it was best to let it go rather than get involved. Instead, Blanc picked up the conversation with Ruby. "Healer says tomorrow if things go as planned. But you know, best laid plans of mice and men..."

"Um, no, I don't. What's that from?" Blanc sighed. Ruby had been the one to teach him that phrase, never really mentioning where it came from. "Just something I've heard, I guess. I thought it was famous. Doesn't matter; point is, don't count on anything yet. But I'm looking forward to getting out of here; this bed is too hard."

Yang was over instantly, fluffing his pillow for him, pulling his blanket up, trying to pamper him and maybe earn some brownie points with the white haired man of her literal dreams. "Yang, what are you doing?" She looked startled, confused, and didn't know how to answer. "Umm... trying to make you more comfortable?" Her voice ended in a higher pitch, marking the strangeness of what was a question rather than a statement like it should have been. Blanc raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Okay, so... maybe now isn't the time for this, but I know we umm... we need to talk, right? I mean, right? Kind of important... I guess it can wait until you're out of here but... " Blanc stopped her. "No, I think we ought to do this now, and get it over with." Yang didn't take that as a good sign. Jaune piped in. "You can't be serious! She put you in here and you're not even out yet? Don't you think this should wait until you're healed?" Blanc turned to his father. This was too odd.

"Well, no, I don't. What, you expect her to hurt me or something?" Seeing the silent stares from everyone but Yang. "Okay, well stop. It'll be fine."

He waited, and when no one left, he got exasperated. "Seriously, some privacy please?"

Jaune growled out "If you think I'm leaving you here, alone with her, your head must not be as good as they say it is." Blanc looked at him. "Hey, it'll be fine. Just give us a few minutes, okay?" Jaune was having none of it. "No, I forbid it."

The room got silent and felt colder to everyone. This was an extremely odd conversation already, but that last statement was beyond crazy. "Just who do you think you are to forbid me anything?" Blanc immediately recognized his mistake, as did Pyrrha, but before she could stop him, Jaune responded. "You know exactly who I am. Do I really have to say it?" Blanc's back was up, but he was still trying to control things before it spiraled out of control, so he didn't respond, quietly fuming. When Yang went to step away, however, Blanc's hand shot out and grabbed her arm. "No, we're going to do this. We ... I need this conversation to happen, and there's no sense putting it off." Blanc's defiant stare never left Jaune.

Ruby reminded everyone she was there. "What's going on? Why... why am I the only person in the room who doesn't know what this is? Is this your secret, Blanc? That thing you told me you wanted to tell me but wouldn't? You've told everyone else?"

Blanc could see the pain in her eyes, but Yang knew it was compounded by the lies her father and Qrow had told for so long. "Ruby, wait. It's not like dad. Please... Blanc, can't you just tell her?" Ruby gave a frustrated cry. "Why does everyone lie and keep secrets from me? I can't take this anymore. I'm not some little kid who can't handle knowing who her father really is. I just want the truth." Everyone but Yang gave the girl a confused look, but neither Yang or Ruby moved to explain. "You. Tell. Me. Now. What is this damn secret?"

But Blanc was stubborn, and he didn't understand, so he said nothing. Jaune, however, was angry and not thinking straight. "Let me tell you, Ruby, about our... friend Blanc." Pyrrha reached out to him, whispering. "Jaune, don't." But he didn't listen. "This man is my ..." Now most of the room were trying to get him to stop, but it was too late. "... son. From the future."

Blanc hoped that the noise and chaos had distracted the girl enough while Pyrrha covered her man's mouth, mouthing 'Sorry' to Blanc for him. Even Jaune seemed to have suddenly realized what he had done, his eyes raised in shock at his own behavior. Yang's eyes dropped to the ground, but Blanc's found Ruby, who was staring at the boy in the bed, looking shocked, and with a quiet "What?" as her response, she simple fell to her knees.

Blanc sighed. Time to do the damage control game again, he thought. "Ren, Nora, can you make sure no one is out in the hall, and make sure no one gets by you?" They understood he was about to let Ruby in on his secret, and he wanted to minimize the information passing. Ruby looked up to him from the floor, where she was now sitting back on her rear, her legs underneath and to the sides of her. "You've been lying to me?"

"No, I've never lied to you. I've never lied to anyone... well, I lied to Pyrrha once and I need to apologize for that, but she caught me unprepared." Pyrrha looked at him queerly but said nothing, prepared to wait for his explanation or get it later. Now wasn't the time for yet more complication, and she could tell that Blanc had intentionally said that, so he'd obviously planned to tell her and apologize. "Why didn't you tell me, Yang? Do you think I'm too young or too stupid to understand, like Dad and uncle Qrow?"

"Ruby, they don't think that, and neither do I. He made me promise, and... well he has good reasons." She turned to him. "You're going to tell her?" Blanc nodded, glaring at Jaune, who looked contrite but no longer had to be silenced. "Don't have much choice now... I was probably going to have to tell her eventually anyone... just... not like this. Frankly, I'm surprised she believes it."

"It explains why you look so much like him... and Weiss. She's your mom?" Blanc shrugged. "She gave birth to me, but you were my mom. She just... controlled me, like an asset."

Everyone else seemed shocked at that statement. Pyrrha, both because he'd lied about who his mother was when she'd called it right, and because she could understand exactly why he'd be afraid to admit the truth about that. Yang knew how bad his childhood had been, but knowing Weiss the way she did had trouble believing the woman would treat her child so poorly... except he'd told her about the training and the scars. Jaune knew who the mother was, but hadn't known anything about Blanc's childhood. Being controlled and treated like an asset didn't sound much like a childhood, though.

But Ruby was the most devistated. "Me? I raised you?" Blanc nodded. "You and mother. She was different, but the same. You used to tell me she changed after... well that's a long explanation. You'll understand." Ruby stood, walking over to the boy, three years her senior, knowing that the feeling in the pit of her stomach, in her soul, was that feeling of motherly affection, and finally understanding why she felt like she knew him so well, even though she obviously knew nothing. "Where did we raise you?"

"Well, mostly at the house in Patch that Taiyang left you when he died... You know what, maybe you shouldn't ask so many questions about the future just yet." Yang was giving him a shocked look. "I'm sorry. I didn't plan to tell you because I didn't plan to let it happen." The blonde grabbed him. "It happens here? During the fall?" He grabbed her hands back. "No, later. I left the details in the book. Pyrrha knows what I'm talking about."

"What? Blanc, you told me that was in case something happened to you. Your failsafe, you called it." He nodded. "It's got details of everything I can remember about events to come; some of which will change, perhaps drastically, but even bad information can still help. Plans, schematics, major events and events of personal importance to the seven of you. Not much about Blake, of course."

Ruby wanted to know why not. "Well, because I don't know anything about her. None of you told me much of anything, and I don't know what happened to her. I don't even know what side she is on or will be on; which is something we need to figure out, and soon now that so many of you know. The wrong slip up... " He looked over at his father, who looked sheepish "and disaster. I can't make this jump again, it'll destroy me before I can do it. I doubt I can even go back enough to keep someone from being murdered again."

Ruby looked at him, then at the others. "Again? Who died?" Blanc's eyes wandered to Jaune, and Pyrrha teared up at the idea of it. "Oh. Wait, you can change the past? The books all say you can't."

"What books, Ruby? As far as I know I'm the only person to ever do it. If you mean the science fiction books you used to let me read, well, they're wrong. About everything, really." Ruby flopped down in the empty chair by his bed. "This is so ... weird. I'm not ready to be a mother."

"Ruby, don't talk like that around Dad." Yang remembered her Dad and Ruby's merry-go-round argument about Yang being pregnant or not, and didn't want to repeat it with her fifteen year old sister... cousin. Damn.

"Oh. Yeah, sure. I suppose we need to keep this a secret? Why? And who else knows?" So, having Jaune check with Ren and Nora, asking them to stay guarding the door and warn them if anyone was going to come in, he began to tell her about the fall of beacon, the rise of the Grimm and the war with Salem, and the fall of humanity. "I think I'm going to puke."

Blanc looked up at Yang. "She's taking it pretty well. Still surprised I don't have to prove it like I did with everyone else." The blonde shrugged. "We'll still have that conversation, Yang." She nodded, and no one objected this time. "Ruby, are you going to be okay?" Ruby couldn't take her eyes off Pyrrha, however. "I promise I won't let it happen."

Jaune's eyes were teary this time, but it was Blanc who answered. "It's why I'm here, Ruby. Don't worry. I've got a plan, I've got the training, and I'm ready to train all of you if I have to - make the equipment we need, and get you all ready. Don't worry; I've prepared my whole life for this. I'll make it right." They all felt his sincerity, but Pyrrha and Yang remembered that to him, putting it right meant dying, and Yang knew why. "Okay, I think it's time for Yang and I to have that conversation before they kick you all out so I can sleep more - as if I hadn't slept enough. You guys go get something to eat or some coffee or something; we'll need a bit." Pyrrha left with Jaune, Ruby following and joining Ren and Nora, looking back once at the pair before grabbing the couple and heading off with them.

Yang chuckled nervously. "So, is this going to be a good talk or a bad talk?"

"I think you want to sit down."


	29. Chapter 29

**RWBY Dormitory room, Late Afternoon**

"I wonder where Ruby and Yang went?" Blake looked around, while Weiss got ready to shower after her workout in the training pavilion. "I bet Yang went to see Blanc, so Ruby probably followed." Weiss picked up her night clothes and a towel, and shut the door behind her as she entered the bathroom.

Despite everything else going on, Blake was still troubled. She'd thought they'd reject her if they knew about her past, but instead the group had grown closer - better than she thought they'd ever be. Still, she felt like an outsider. Yang and Ruby were sisters, and Weiss ... well thinking about it, perhaps the Schnee was as on the outside like herself, but it never seemed to bother her. Weiss was rather unflappable about most things, though yielding to Jaune had definitely gotten to her. Although, given everything they'd talked about, it was obvious what was really getting to her was far bigger. Weiss's changes were mirroring hers; she'd had assumptions about humans and their thoughts on her kind, on how they'd treat her, and the difference between her assumptions and reality were changing her. Obviously, Weiss had some assumptions about men and women, and about everything in general, colored by her upbringing, like Blake's own, and yet the opposite. Blake had known her ex at his weakest, beaten and downtrodden, abused, neglected and naive. And then, she'd seen him turn that around, become powerful and...

It had been erotic and exhilarating, giving herself hope that their cause wasn't doomed to failure. Somehow, she'd seen him go from that gentle and naive boy into the strong and virile man he became, but missed when he turned cruel. And then he'd done that to that girl - barely older than a toddler, and she'd woken up. Whatever he'd been before, he became a monster, and turned the soul of the white fang black. He'd left her no choice; it was hard enough to stomach the turn to violence from protest, then from defending to attacking, then from stealing and harassing to assassination and extermination. He'd made the fang into what they'd feared and fought, and there was no going back. And she had so much history to make up for, so many sins to repent.

Blake didn't know about Weiss' experiences; she was tight-lipped about that sort of thing. For all she knew, the white-haired girl wasn't interested in men at all, though she'd no reason to think that. Blake had done her own... experimentation in that regard, and while it had been pleasant, it didn't really interest her the way the male body did. For the right person... Ruby was too young and awkward; she knew for a fact the girl hadn't had a date. She had seen her giving some stares though, particularly during combat class. Ruby definitely liked to watch men's butts. Blake was sure Pyrrha would be pissed if she knew how often Ruby was checking out Jaune. Yang thought it was funny when her sister was checking out Blanc; Ruby was so naive and not a bit subtle. Jaune was oblivious, but it was obvious Blanc knew, though he never reacted to it. She had to admit, Blanc had something going for him; Jaune's build, tight muscle, that rugged tough-look with just enough properness you wouldn't think your parents would be offended. Well her parents might, but not most, she suspected.

Blake's thoughts drifted to Yang and her predicament. She knew Blanc met a great deal to the blonde basher; she talked about him frequently and she'd stopped looking at other guys almost entirely, including that super-hot panty-wetting upper classman with the long hair... best not to think about him right now. She squirmed a bit, trying to get her thoughts back to something other than sex with...

Why had Yang hit him? She was impulsive, and prone to violent reactions fairly quickly, but she'd never hurt anyone before, and to hurt someone she loved? She'd heard of it before, but Yang didn't strike her as the sort of coward who would beat the people she loved because she knew they wouldn't fight back, and she'd seen Blanc fight. Yang was good - damn good, but she was pretty sure Blanc could take her. Hell, he might be able to take their whole team, the way he'd put those upper-classmen down so quickly in that courtyard, and Yang had said she'd seen him fighting in a simulation where he'd killed over 100 grimm without a hit; she didn't see how that was possible but Yang didn't tend to exaggerate about that sort of thing.

Blake knew that given the right setup, any of her team could slaughter the simulated foes relatively easily and quickly, but that many would exhaust even fully trained hunters and huntresses, and she'd seen him right after as well - covered in sweat and scars. He'd seen real combat, and a lot of it. She had her own share, but he looked like he'd have spent his entire life fighting something at some point. Blake admitted to herself that the sight of him, shirtless and sweaty, powerful warrior that he was, had caused him to feature in a few of her late-night fantasies. She wondered if Yang might want to try a threesome... she was getting off track again.

The main thing bothering her, she knew, wasn't Yang or Weiss or even the hot upper-classmen and her lack of sex, but her history with the White Fang and why they were working with a human criminal organization, acting like servants to them. It didn't fit, even for Adam. Sure, he'd steal and murder, but he wasn't any human's puppet and those were definitely real members of the Fang - they'd only do that on his orders. Maybe Torchwick was some sort of contracted facilitator. If so, with that much dust, Adam was preparing for war. She needed to find out where the dust was going, why the White Fang was involved, and stop it somehow. She couldn't bare it if her new life was destroyed because of the sins from her old one. She'd fight him herself is he had to. She wasn't so arrogant as to think she could win, but ... better to die righting her wrongs than stay silent and let the whole world fall into the darkness that had claimed the heart of the man she once loved.

Her scroll beeped. Looking down, it was another memo from Sun. He wasn't very subtle, but he was cute and attentive, if a bit hyperactive and mischievous. He'd been willing to help her before... maybe her team would be willing to help her now?

The door opened, and out stepped Weiss, the bathroom steaming, her hair wrapped in a towel, her pajamas on, just as the other door opened, and inside stepped Ruby. The two bumped into each other, of course, neither paying much attention to what was going on, oblivious in their thoughts. "Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Sorry." Ruby sounded down, climbing up into her bed and facing the wall.

"Ruby? Everything okay?" Odd. Before Blake could ask, Weiss had questioned the girl. Obviously, Weiss wasn't quite as oblivious as she'd thought. Ruby said nothing, not even a mumble, and Weiss turned back to Blake, looking to see if the brunette had a better idea of what's going on. Blake thought to go about it indirectly, instead.

"Hey, wasn't Yang with you?" A mumbled "Yes." was her reply, but still Ruby wouldn't turn and wouldn't engage. "She okay?"

Ruby turned to them. "I don't know. Left her alone to talk to Blanc. They might be breaking up for all I know." No emotion - this was not like the Ruby they knew at all. "Ruby, what's going on?"

"I... I found out some things about... I don't know who I am anymore." She turned back around, and refused to speak to them further, no matter what they said or asked, so they gave up, waiting for Yang to help.

It was some time before the sister arrived. She didn't look devastated, though she was a bit angry, but mostly her face looked confused. Ruby was asleep; they hadn't the heart to keep her up and Yang didn't move to wake her, instead going right to get ready for bed, without saying anything to them. Yang had a rather long hair-care routine she went through at night and in the morning; it'd almost made them late to class a few times when she'd woken up late. Blake supposed if her own hair was that... unmanageable and she cared about it as much as Yang did, maybe she would too, but her life had always had a more practical nature to it. A brush and some saliva and she was good.

When the bombshell returned, changed into her typical tank top and low-cut pajama bottoms - that girl loved to show her abs; hell, you could see the crack of her ass if she bent over - Blake caught her friend before she could slip under the covers. She was sure of it now; Yang wasn't just confused, she was disturbed.

"Hey, what's going on? Things okay with Blanc?" Another indirect route, Blake was good at going around to what she wanted to know rather than barreling right to it like Yang would. "Yeah, he's awake and healing okay. We talked." After waiting for Yang, who'd by then slipped under the covers, to elaborate, Blake prodded her further. "Talked about what? Ruby said... you guys might be splitting up?"

"I was worried about it... I don't know, I guess we didn't? We didn't talk about that."

"Well, what did you talk about then?" Yang just looked up at the cat faunus, sighed, then replied "I don't want to talk about it." Blake knew she'd need to wait, so she tried another topic of conversation. "Do you know what's up with Ruby? She was... depressed I think. I've never seen her so down."

"She just found out some stuff about my dad and me and... I guess my Dad and Uncle Qrow have been lying to us all this time and... I guess her whole world is changing too fast and she's not ready for it. Is anyone really?" Blake shook her head. "I guess we're all having our world changed... you know my story, some of it anyway." Yang looked quite interested. "Care to share some more?"

"I do have something to talk about, something I need to talk to you guys about, but I want to do it when we're all awake and together. Now isn't the right time. You want to talk about your sister?" Yang's eyes drifted over to the girl. "No, even though I'm involved I think this is her story. I'm just going to be there for her." Yang yawned; it'd been an exhausting day for everyone. Weiss was quiet, but Blake was certain the heiress was listening. "You going to be spending your evenings with Blanc?"

Yang sighed again. "No. He needs to work on some stuff and he's missed too many days; it's all my fault. He's got to catch up for finals. Hell, we all do, but Goodwitch told him he'll have to battle team CFVY for his combat class final this semester." This got Weiss' attention, as she finally spoke up. "What? That seems rather... unfair. A whole team, alone?"

"Yeah. Evidently all the first year teams are going to fight a second year team for their final." Yang responded. Great, that meant...

"We'll need to get started preparing right away! We need to know who we're fighting!" Of course, Weiss would be worried about that, right now, before they go to bed.

Ruby, who evidently hadn't been asleep, or had woken up when Weiss got startled, responded. "Team Sunrise; SNRS. I got the memo on my scroll earlier. We'll talk about it in the morning. Get some sleep."

After that, no one continued. Blake heard Yang's snores, then stared at the ceiling, wondering. She wanted their help finding the Fang and what they were doing with the dust, but... they had so many other tasks. And Blanc; fresh out of the hospital and facing perhaps the best second year team around. As she began to drift off, her fantasies returned; blonde hair, a large chest, and a scarred man with white hair like Weiss' taking her from behind while she kissed the blonde. It was a pleasant dream.

* * *

 **Beacon Infirmary, the following morning**

Blanc woke early; he'd slept enough and his body was restored. No more dizziness or other concussion symptoms. He was due to leave that morning, but couldn't wait to get out. He'd left some projects back at his place waiting for work, including the ranged weapon he was hoping Jaune would use, and he needed to brush up on history for Obleck; Port's class would be a breeze. He wasn't worried about his match with CFVY; it was scheduled last so he had time to prepare, and while he was uncertain of their abilities, victory wasn't necessary. He'd put on a good show, and if it looked like he'd have to reveal too much to win, he'd let them win. Some might think that was arrogance; it was. He also knew that short of the actual huntresses and hunters, no one, other than Pyrrha, on this campus had as much fighting experience as he did, nor as much training. He knew how to fight them with his martial prowess; it was just if they employed their semblances that he'd risk difficulty. Unless he used his own; he had been successful in hiding it all semester so far, despite Gramma's constant pressure to show something off. As far as Blanc knew, only he and Jaune hadn't shown their semblances yet, though Jaune may have while Blanc was asleep.

The talk with Yang had went well; surprisingly different than expected for them both. She'd been expecting a breakup speech, and he'd been expecting her to get angry when he more or less tasked her to spy on her partner Blake. Ren hadn't come up with anything, and time was growing short. He needed to start training team RWBY and training them with JNPR, and getting people prepared for their parts in the plan, and he needed to figure out if he could work Blake in, or needed to keep her out. He wanted to trust her, but that wasn't the same as putting the fate of humanity and faunus-kind on a dice-roll with Blake's motives and trustworthiness.

Yang had eventually got around to their relationship status; he knew she would. He wanted to put things on pause; he wasn't looking to date anyone else, but they both had things they needed to get done, finals to prepare for - he had to keep up appearances, and other relationships to look after. For her part, she'd wanted to seek his forgiveness; he gave it wholeheartedly and without reservation. She'd saved him; even if it was the future her. She'd loved him and he knew she'd not meant to hurt him, nor would she have left him if she knew how injured he was. Hell, he hadn't known how injured he was. He'd need to work on Jaune about her though; he had the feeling something had gone wrong there between the woman he loved and the father he'd grown to seek approval from - that was still too weird.

In the end, they'd compromised. Blanc had originally planned to spend the winter break with Jaune at his family's home; he figured Jaune might want Pyrrha to come, but he'd lay lien down that she'd persuade him to meet her family instead. Yang wanted him to come home with her instead. Blanc really wanted to meet his aunts and his grandparents; it was the only chance he'd get to ever know them. He knew almost nothing about his father's side of the family except bits and pieces Ruby passed on; Jaune had seven sisters, they taught him to dance and to play the guitar - badly. He also wanted to spend time with Yang, Ruby... talk with Grandpa Qrow. Yang said her father was here. Blanc wasn't sure if meeting him would go well or not.

Regardless, he would talk with Jaune and work it out; he could afford to travel from the Arc family home to Patch. Just the design for the Opticor alone was going to mean a 25% increase in SDC profits this quarter, and expected to rise quickly when they started a new line in military applications of his armor designs as well. Blanc knew that the dust-glyphs were going to remain an art rather than something a machine could produce, but there were dust-weavers in all of the kingdoms; the technique for putting the glyphs into metal and using dust crystals to store aura to power them as something that could be patented and used regardless. Who knows, maybe in a decade his technique could be automated. He wouldn't live to see it, either way.

One more meal in this room, and he was back out into the real world.

A blonde haired older man came in, carrying his breakfast on a tray, but not in a nurse's uniform. He set the tray down on the bedside table, then turned to the younger man. "So, you're Blanc?"

Blanc tilted his head to the side not answering but waiting to see what was going on. "I'm Tai. You're dating my daughter." He put his hand on Blanc's shoulder, firmly gripping the younger man and setting him back down on the bed. "I've talked to Ozpin; I think we should talk."


	30. Chapter 30

**Beacon Infirmary, Breakfast**

Blanc could admit it; he was a bit unnerved. Yang had been an adult before, her father (and likely her mother) had been dead for some time. He momentarily wondered if she'd received this conversation from his mother. Doubtful.

"Don't get worked up in a tizzy just yet. I'm not here to talk about Yang. Well, yes I am but not in the way you're thinking. Well, yes I am, but not yet." Blanc just stared at the man, making his confusion obvious on his face. "I've just come from seeing Ozpin; go ahead and eat while we talk. I'm sure your famished. Can't say that looks too good, but..." Blanc picked up a biscuit and split it, beginning to pile the eggs and bacon inside to make a breakfast sandwich. Taiyang's eyebrow rose, but he said nothing about it.

Taiyang picked up the conversation again. "Ozpin told me some things about you... things I'm not going to repeat here, but I'm sure you can guess. We're... old friends of a sort you could say. I still do some errands for him from time to time, so he clued me into the nature of why you're here at Beacon... right now." Blanc was pretty clear that Taiyang was trying to hint that he knew Blanc was from the future, but rather than keep the man trying, and failing, to be subtle with hints about it, or risking the secret being spoken out-right, he responded after a quick swallow of partially chewed breakfast. "I get what you're hinting at; no need to keep at it. If you need to talk about that specifically, we need to do it somewhere more private than this."

Taiyang nodded. "That's not really want I wanted to talk to you about right now, anyway. I'm concerned about this plan of yours to deal with upcoming issues. Oz wasn't too specific, but he indicated you were rather fatalistic about the outcome." Tai spoke up as Blanc started to speak. "I'm not going to try to talk you out of it right now; that's not what I'm here for. I want to talk about you and Yang with what you've got planned." That shut the white-haired punk up. Blanc looked contrite, and where he'd been keeping eye contact and, even Taiyang had to admit to himself, he'd been a bit intimidating, now Blanc couldn't seem to look anywhere near the father of the woman with which he was involved. Now he just looked miserable.

"What is it you want me to do? I tried... I tried but it hurt so much, and it hurt her to put her off. So... what am I supposed to do then? No matter what I do I'll break her heart." The father sighed. "I'm not telling you to dump her, or complaining about you dating her. Not really. But surely you understand my worry here?"

Blanc nodded; he shared the same concerns and had even expressed them to her. "It's why she hit me. I think maybe all of it at once was too much for her to take and when we got to that part... I was trying to tell her why we shouldn't... but I can't do anything about that part." Taiyang raised his eyebrow. "You can't? Or you won't." Now the hard, intimidating look returned.

"I think the rest of this conversation is best made somewhere else." Taiyang's back was up, and then it relaxed again. He didn't have to confront every instance of someone pushing back. "You're probably right. I understand you're planning on joining you friend Jaune over your break?" Blanc looked at him warily, but nodded. "I'd like you to consider taking some of that break to come spend time with us at our home, on Patch." Blanc was surprised at who had given him the offer. "If you have to know, Ruby sent me a memo and all but demanded I offer, but I think it's a good idea. I take it there's something between you too as well?"

Blanc responded quickly, not wanting things to get the father angry. "Um, yeah, but not like Yang." Taiyang accepted it without comment. "Let us know soon then? I know you have finals coming up, but there's not a whole lot of time to prepare, and and I'll have to publish the flight request since it's not hunter related and save up a bit to pay for it." Blanc shook his head. "Don't worry about it. My benefactor will be happy to pay for my flight. I'll talk to Jaune and Yang and make sure it's good with them, but I'll be there."

Taiyang smiled; Yang looked like a blonde version of her mother, but her smile came from her dad. "Great! I'll let you finish your breakfast; we can talk about the other stuff then. Sorry if I scared you." He stood up, turned, and left, a smile on his face the whole time. Blanc wasn't sure if it was forced or not. With a sigh, he continued to finish his breakfast, so he could leave. A lot of things needed to get done in the near future, and a visit to Patch was going to put some of those plans on an express line.

* * *

 **JNPR Dormitory Room**

Jaune checked the memo again. "It says we're going to have to fight a second year team, but I've never heard of team AZRE, or Azure. Ren had seen them talking to CFVY but didn't know much; Nora was unconcerned. Pyrrha hadn't heard anything either, leaving Jaune to conclude that they'd need to talk to other teams and see what they knew. "We don't have to win, but we need to have a good showing." He was fairly confident that with their additional training, and Pyrrha, of course, they would win.

When they'd left for breakfast, they'd joined Ruby and the others. The teams began talking about their upcoming sparing class semester final. Ruby wasn't her usual jubilant self, which was odd, but Weiss spoke up instead. "We're facing team Sunrise. I don't know much about them, but I heard that they're an all-male team. Team Azure is over there, in the corner." Jaune looked over, as did the rest of the table.

Alone at the table were two men and two women. One of the men was dark skinned but fair haired, while the other had Asiatic features like Ren and a shaved head. One of the woman appeared to be a blonde haired faunus, though it was difficult at this distance to determine exactly what kind; she had a tail and an extra set of ears, not quite the same as Blake's but close. The final woman had deep brown hair, wavy and down to the middle of her back. She was facing away from them, like her faunus teammate. They couldn't tell much else, and the team was in their school uniform, so nothing about the weapons they used.

Ruby spoke up, sounding down. "There's a hunter database you can check at the library; it's where we'll go when we have a break from classes to check. The information isn't very up-to-date, but my uncle told me about it before I came to Beacon." Jaune looked between the dark-red haired girl and her older buxom blonde sister, who looked at Ruby with concern, chewing her bottom lip. Abruptly, Ruby got up, her food half-eaten, and left without saying a word. Alarmed, Yang began to rise, but Weiss stopped her. "Let me." With that, the heiress left as well.

"Guys, what's going on? I've never seen Ruby like this before." Blake looked over at Yang, replying to Jaune "Yang won't tell me. I guess it's Ruby's story to tell and she's not talking." He looked over at the sister, still a bit angry with her even if he knew it wasn't really justified any longer. She said nothing, staring down at her tray. "You know, I'm not really hungry." Yang got up and left before anyone could talk to her, and now left without her team, Blake excused herself and left as well.

Ren sighed. "Guess we'll clean up."

* * *

 **Blanc's rooms, after breakfast**

Blanc was finished dressing to go to class. He supposed he could use his injury as an excuse to skip out again, but he believed he needed to be there, if for no other reason than to observe the others. In the nanolathe, a roughly-shaped rifle was being formed, spiny in places. It was to be the weapon he planned to gift his father as a ranged component, a coilgun-based fully-automatic bolt launcher. The coils were powered by dust; everything was really, but the shots themselves would just be metal shafts with pointed heads, and at the capacity of the Bolter, as he planned to call it, they would fire out at a rate of five per second with enough velocity to penetrate most grimm boneplates at over 100 meters. Not quite the destructive power of the Opticor, but much more useful and comparatively better for someone inexperienced. The high rate of fire would allow Jaune to simply point in the direction of his target and fire rather than precisely aiming; he'd be able to stitch the bolts to the target if he was paying attention. The spines reinforced the weapon and let it operate in an emergency like a melee weapon, though that would possibly ruin the alignment of the electromagnetic coils. To the side were two slim but long magazines, each holding 60 steel bolts. They were too small and thin to hold dust charges, but they were long enough to penetrate entirely through most people. Once fired small colored wingtips would emerge from the back, not really necessary to stabilize the bolt at the speed it'd be traveling, but to allow it to be seen, so the user could track the bolts and adjust their aim, and so they could retrieve the bolts later, if necessary.

The weapon had replaced the standard infantry rifle used by Atlas troops in the future, when manufacturing dust rounds had become difficult. Making the bolts and the weapons had been easier, and the weapon was also more effective. It was part of what had allowed humanity to hold out as long as it had. The bolts traveled at sub-sonic speeds, however. This made the weapon quieter as well, but made it difficult to hit airborne targets. In the end, defending against airborne grimm had remained a providence of bullets and automated weapons systems, hardened against hacking after the fiasco that happened at the fall of Beacon.

That lead to another issue. The forces attacking Vale would commit before the hack of the Atlas automated troops, but that hack led to Atlas increasing their computer and network security. It might be enough to just talk to General Ironwood about the problem and send his staff what he could remember about the attack method and some of the security holes that needed fixed, but in all honesty the process was so complicated that Blanc couldn't remember everything. If Ironwood didn't take his advice, he'd have to let the mechanical units be hacked again. What Blanc did remember was the tracer code - software he'd been forced to memorize because it would allow him to piggy-back onto Cinder fall's hack, using it to trace back both to her and anyone else using her control software. The hope had been that it could be used to identify other enemy agents present but who had remained unrevealed, as well as other positions of their enemy. He'd get a lot of information before the attack, but he'd have it's data logged for after; he wouldn't be there to evaluate it but someone would figure it out. He'd described it in his book of secrets.

Blanc looked over at the wall where it lay hidden; only Pyrrha knew about it. Inside were schematics, details of events that likely wouldn't happen if his plan came to fruition, dossier about particular people - enemies in particular, but also notes and memories, letters to those he'd be leaving behind that he left it up to Pyrrha to share, or not, at her discretion. It was part battle-plan, part reference for the coming war, and part diary and memoir. Blanc had accepted that he'd have to die, but he didn't want to leave his life unmarked and unknown. He'd tried to keep the personal things in the back, both because it made the reference material easier to access, but also because it would be easier to separate if it came down to that.

There was a knock at his door, distracting him from the morbidity of his thoughts, and a call of his name from what sounded like Yang's voice. He went to the door, letting her in. "I'm sorry... things are so weird right now and I just had to see you." She looked at him with a shy smile, looking a bit perturbed. "Things with Ruby and I are kinda... messed up and my team feels a bit broken. I just need a friendly face, and maybe a kiss or two." Blanc obliged, taking her into his arms, giving her a deep kiss, followed up with a comforting hug. Yang put her head on his shoulder, turning it away, and sighed. "Things just seem so off right now. I was so afraid I was going to lose you, and then you asked me to... anyway. I was pretty relieved, which seems sad because I hate what you've asked me to do to my friend."

He pulled back a little to look in her eyes. "I wouldn't if I had another choice. Time is pretty short and we have to be sure." She nodded, pulling back in. "You know, your father came to see me." Yang stiffened, not leaving his embrace, but her back was straighter and her muscles tighter. "Relax; he asked me to join you guys for some time over break, on Patch. Would you like me to do that?" She pulled back, looking into his eyes, then accepting he was telling the truth, replying with a passionate kiss and a murmured "yes." She put her head back to his shoulder, this time with her face snuggled into his neck, licking and sucking. "Um, babe... we have class in an hour... come on, stop."

She didn't. She moved around to the front of his throat, which despite his words he bared to her without restraint, and she devoured him. "Yang... we don't have time for..." he trailed off as she began to stroke his hardening member through the front of his pants. "You sure about that, big guy?" He gulped but said nothing as she lowered herself to her knees. "I want to share how happy you've made me."

They'd done this many times before, in the future, and he knew to keep his hands out of her hair. As she lowered his zipper, reaching inside to retrieve the object of her desire, she smirked up at him. "I'm going to enjoy... woah." She'd felt him before, between her thighs, but seeing it was still daunting. "Pyrrha is a lucky girl is all I can say. And so am I." With that, she swooped forward, engulfing him without preamble, working quickly because Blanc had been right; there wasn't a lot of time.

When she finished, she put him away, standing back up and licking what remained from her lips. "Been a long time, huh?" She knew how long it'd been; she'd been there for the last time. He simply looked sheepishly at her and said nothing, dazed with endorphins. "Come on, walk with me to class." All the while, the steady glow and hum filled the room as the nanolathe continued it's work.

The walk ate away most of the time remaining, and when they arrived at Professor Port's Grimm Studies class, everyone was seated. Blanc followed Yang down to Blake, but neither Ruby or Weiss was in the room. "Blake, where are they?"

The brunette looked up at her partner. "I don't know. I haven't seen them since breakfast. I was hoping they were with you." Blanc didn't know what was going on, looking between the two women before their attention was drawn to the front by the portly instructor. It wasn't long before the man was droning on about some story that seemed likely to be fake, and they could continue their conversation. Blanc caught Yang's eye, raising his eyebrows. She responded with one word. "Qrow."

"Oh." Blanc didn't say anymore, and Blake hadn't been able to hear Yang's whispered response. She sighed and turned back to the lecture, confused about the legality of doing that with a borebatusk. Still, no one asked questions.

"And that is how little Timmy lost his virginity to Shirley the black and white piggy."

Blanc looked over at Blake, who also seemed to have caught that while the rest of the room seemed like they'd heard nothing. "Did he just... " The brunette nodded. Blanc looked across the room to Pyrrha, who normally did pay attention, only to find her concentrating on Jaune, who was completely unfocused and staring into space. Suddenly, a goofy smile played across his father's face, and Pyrrha pulled back, a grin on hers as well, wiping her hand.

Yang leaned over to him. "And I thought I was daring; P-money's gotten really bold. Right in class, in the front row even..." Blanc had just seen his father getting a hand-job in class.

As they were heading out of the lecture hall to go to Remnant History class, Blanc, Blake, and Yang caught up with team JNPR. Ren looked put off, Nora was nudging Pyrrha, who was grinning widely and whispering with the hammer wielder, and Jaune's goofy smile had yet to leave his face. "Uh, hey guys. Try not to... get detention or something. We probably ought to pick back up with our... " Blake and Yang had moved on, snickering at how uncomfortable Blanc was. "Our practices. Yeah." Pyrrha went to grab his arm, and Blanc jerked back. "Uh, no. I know where that hand's been, and you're not touching me with it until you wash." Laughing, Pyrrha proceeded to chase the white haired man.

* * *

 **Ozpin's office**

"So, Qrow is coming in? Is his mission complete?"

Ozpin turned toward his second from the screen, watching the future huntsmen play like teenagers. "I'm not sure. Evidently it's personal. He did say he had some information for us, but given what we know from our young confidant, I don't know that we'll get much benefit from it. I imagine it will be redundant and incomplete, but a good verification of what Mr. Arc has told us to expect."

Glynda Goodwich nodded, then turned. Before she could leave, Ozpin stopped her. "Are you sure it's a good idea to make the first years face off against second years?" She sighed. "It'll be good experience for them."

"And for Mr. Arc?"

She walked back to Ozpin's desk, ready to confront him. "He's shown himself more than capable of handling multiple combatants. We need to push his limits as well; he hasn't been gaining anything from sparing with his classmates." Ozpin acknowledged the truth in that; other than perhaps Ms. Nikos, there really wasn't any student in the school who'd be able to challenge Mr. Arc, particularly if he began to utilize his various semblances. "And, your expectations?"

"I imagine most of the first year teams will lose, but will still give a good showing of their abilities. I'm particularly interested in teamwork. Blanc... I expect him to throw the match, to be frank. He's been purposefully refusing to use any of his semblances at all in class. It's beyond being discrete; he'll get noticed if he doesn't do something."

Ozpin again acknowledged the wisdom in what she was saying. "I'll talk with him about it. Thank you, Glynda... are we still on for tonight?"

The blonde teacher smiled at him, pulling her glasses down her nose to look him in the eyes over the top of his own. "I wouldn't miss it... we could have a little preview now." Ozpin coughed; Glynda always was sexually aggressive. "Unfortunately I have another appointment, giving guidance to a third year team. You do make it very tempting, however." Glynda buttoned up her shirt again, hiding her large chest away. "Very well. That is unfortunately. I'll see you tonight; I'm going to wear your ass out."

He knew that she meant it, literally and figuratively. That riding crop of hers was always in use.


	31. Chapter 31

**Combat Class, after lunch**

Ruby stood in the center of the arena, Cresent Rose fully deployed, not looking like herself. There was a scowl on her face, and though it didn't seem directed at anyone, she was prepared to take out her anger, frustration, and sadness on her opponent. She'd always spoken better with her actions than her awkward words.

"Mr. Arc, would you join Ms. Rose?" Blanc's eyebrow rose. "No, the other Mr. Arc, please." Jaune suddenly had a very skiddish look on his face, and his eyes wandered to the exits. "Don't worry, Jaune. It'll be fine. She's your friend." Pyrrha, ever supportive of her boyfriend, encouraged him to join the reaper for a spar. They were all in their combat gear, except Blanc who was excused from Combat class until after some testing in the training pavilion, scheduled for later that day after classes. Jaune picked up Crocea Mors, drew his blade, put the expanded shield onto his arm, and stepped down to join Ruby in the center.

"Hey Ruby."

She said nothing, her scowl not lightening and her glare looking right through him. She brought the scythe around to her side in preparation to attack. Ms. Goodwitch looked at the two combatants, noticing the differences in the reaping warrior, and shouted "Begin!"

Ruby immediately fired, leaping toward Jaune and bringing her blade around. Jaune braced his feet, putting his shield in position to deflect the blow, his sword drawn back to thrust forward, but as the scythe hit, scraping across the heater shield and over his shoulder, the girl pulled the trigger again, firing a round and pulling the blade back, catching his arm and taking almost a quarter of his Aura in a single blow. He wasn't cut, but the jerking motion pulled his arm, straining the socket and throwing him to the ground. He hit face first, stunned, but recovered quickly.

Jaune rolled to the side as an overhand swing brought the point of the curved blades down where his head had been, digging into the floor. "Ruby?" It was like she couldn't see him at all. He stood, only to drop and roll in a reverse somersault as Ruby fired again, the round barely missing. He came back up onto his feet in a motion he'd practiced with Pyrrha, deciding that being defensive wasn't going go work. Putting his shield up in front of him, he blocked the next shot, charging at his friend with a roar. She pulled up, smacking his shield with the back end of the staff on her scythe, spinning and hitting it again with the blade so fast that it halted his charge, going into another rotation.

Jaune angled his shield correctly, pushing the staff up instead of taking the hit and altering the trajectory of Ruby's swing, allowing him to stab and strike a blow at Ruby's aura, which depleted significantly. While the blow had been much weaker than her own, Jaune's aura was massive by comparison. She was still in the green, but it wouldn't take many hits like that to put her into the red. She paused, angered, and her scowl intensified along with her attack speed. Jaune could barely keep up, taking occasional nicks to his aura while he tried to hold the enraged warrior off. "Ruby, come on. Snap out of it! It's me!" Instead, she sped up, catching him with several blows and draining his aura until it was barely in the yellow zone.

Ruby caught his shield on the inside with the tip of her blade, pulled causing Jaune to stumble forward and out of position, then fired point blank into his arm. His aura took another dip, and with the concussion of the gunshot no one else heard the snap as the pressure from the round broke his arm. He fell forward, his body spinning back from the shot at first, but then Ruby pulled again, causing him to land on it, snapping his wrist as well, and he screamed. Pyrrha stood at once, yelling "Jaune!" and causing him to roll off his arm and onto his back, the overhand swing of Ruby's scythe barely missing him. The girl pulled it out, swinging it around to hit him again, so Jaune pushed a bit of aura into his greaves, firing the thrusters and slid on his back across the ground, knocking Ruby over and taking the scythe from her hands when it caught up in the pauldron on his broken arm.

Ruby stood up, turned and leaped forward in a trail of rose petals, grabbing her weapon. "Ruby, please!" Jaune's aura was depleted, used up trying to repair the break in his wrist and arm. He couldn't get up, weighed down by his armor, even as light as it was with the glyphs engraved by Blanc. "STOP!" yelled Glynda, but it was as if the black and red haired girl had become death; she did not listen. With another overhand swing, powered by her semblance, she chopped down on her friend in a killing blow. Just before it could hit, a black glow surrounded the weapon, stopping it in place; Pyrrha had saved her lover by overtly using her semblance while the rest of the audience was stunned at the viciousness of the normally bubbly girl.

Ruby blinked, her body straining to force the blade down, but it was as if she was waking from a trance. She stopped, looking from Jaune, on the ground below her, cradling his arm in pain, the point of Cresent rose nearly striking the unprotected waist below his chestplate, to Goodwitch, looking at her in horror, her riding crop at her side but unused, to the crowd; her sister, Weiss who'd accompanied her there, Blake... all of them with shocked looks on their face, and finally to Pyrrha and the rest of Juniper. Pyrrha was straining to hold the blade up at that distance, and as Ruby recognized what she was straining against and stopped pushing down, Pyrrha relaxed as she was able to easily hold the blade up and then pushing it away.

Ruby collapsed the weapon into storage mode, looking horrified, then whispered "I'm sorry!" to Jaune and darted from the room. Nora and Ren were there first, followed by Pyrrha who'd had to catch her breath from the strain. Ren helped his friend up, helping to support him while Nora helped his weaker side, being the strongest of them. "Go ahead and take him to the infirmary please." His friends complied, the pain from his arm and wrist making Jaune nearly incoherent. Yang didn't wait for permission, she stood up, looked at Blanc, then left to find her sister. The rest stayed, under the watchful eye of Ms. Goodwitch, while combat class continued.

* * *

 **Training Pavillion, holographic testing room**

Blanc was in his combat clothes, armored ankle-length duster and his two regular tonfa inside. He'd forgone using the Opticor and the Boltor wasn't ready yet, so he'd be stuck using only his melee weapons. He'd stopped by the infirmary after combat class to see about Jaune, but by then the bones had already knit; actually they'd been re-broken and had knit again. Jaune was expected to be recovered by morning, in no small part due to his massive aura potential. Pyrrha stayed with her man, fussing over him, and Blanc found the scene sweat and wished them well. Jaune had wanted to come support Blanc at his test, and Pyrrha was going to go, but Blanc waved them off. Ren and Nora would be there, as well as Blake and Weiss; no one had seen Ruby or Yang to ask but he assumed they would not.

"The point of this exercize is to determine if Mr. Arc is capable of rejoining combat class and fighting grimm. He'll be facing multiple attacking grimm of various species, increasing in difficulty, until either your aura is in the red, or Mr. Arc or one of us halts the simulation. Mr. Arc, are you prepared?" In the observation area stood Glynda Goodwitch, with a medic from the infirmary, Ren and Nora, and Blake and Weiss.

He gave them a thumbs up, then drew his weapons. "Very well. Begin simulation." There was a bit of a buzz as the holographic and forcefield emitters activated, and then he was assaulted by five beowolves. Beowolves tended to roam and attack in packs, looking like enlarged black werewolves due to their tendency to move about on two legs as often as four. They weren't covered in bone plate, but did have some spines which was typical of fairly newborn versions. The older, more ancient would be covered in more boney protrusions as well as more protection, and tended to be less aggressive but more dangerous.

Blanc attacked, moving forward under the first swipe of a beowolf on his far right, spinning a slash through it and it's nearest companion; fatal blows that if the creatures had organs would see them disemboweled from the side. He continued his spin through his slide, coming out of it with his tonfa in an X shape to block a blow from what had been the center attacker but was now just the closest; he pushed back against the blow, coming up and knocking the beowolf back into it's cohort; delaying them and allowing him to go on the attack again. This time he went above as they'd ducked low, down on all fours, slashing the center wolf with the blades along his arms as he flipped over it, snapping both tonfa into longsword form and stabbing out to penetrate the remaining two wolves; the center wolf was now dead, but the other two were merely hobbled, having been hit in the limbs. Blanc snapped the blades back into tonfa form and used the dissolving form of the center wolf to leap in the air, just in time to avoid the spinning attack of a boarbatusk from behind. It rammed into one of the hobbled wolves, having missed it's target, killing that wolf. Blanc came down, slashing the face of the remaining wolf with the back of his right tonfa at his elbow, then spinning around and punching through the plate on the boar's head, the pointed tip of his tonfa smashing through the bone like paper.

Blake's keen vision caught the hint of a small white glyph, and for once, so did Weiss, who gasped. Her family's acceleration glyphs, used by Blanc Arc? She was now certain there was some blood relationship, but she couldn't possibly see how. Perhaps her mother had an affair and had hidden the child from their father? Ren and Nora simply cheered for their friend, though Ren was paying attention to how Blanc attacked and moved. He could tell that Blanc was somehow sensing things outside his vision, like the boarbatusk, and was planning his moves so that he was always moving, and that he stayed on the attack; Blanc was an extremely aggressive fighter, more so than even Pyrrha, but Ren thought such a fight rhythm would leave the man tired. The white haired hunter did not appear to be tiring at all, but rather getting faster as his adrenaline increased. Goodwitch's eyebrow merely rose in curiosity; she rarely got to see her trainees fight in these training simulations, and Blanc hadn't fought much during the initiation, except after the larger ancient grimm had been disposed of. All of the trainee huntsmen had fought some grimm during their Forever Fall fieldtrip, but there was no incident of note, no injuries or serious fights. One Ursa major that Jaune Arc had killed if she recalled correctly. Otherwise, all minor versions of their species and in low numbers.

The simulation reacted by increasing the threat; an ursa inside the beowolve pack, this time of increased size as well. Blanc darted between the weaker targets, using the Ursa as a lumbering terrain feature to keep the other beowolves at bay while he isolated and killed one or two of them at a time, weaving himself around the bear-like grimm, finally cutting it down by sliding through it's legs and crippling it's movement, then dragging a shifted longsword along it's boney back until finding a join, and pushing deep inside to sever where it's spine would be. It was calculated as a killing blow, as it should be, and the Ursa began to dissolve, but the simulation had already added new and tougher enemies; some of the two legged lizards that had a borrowing capacity and were excellent leaping attackers, and finally some more airborne grimm in the form of small nevermores. There were a total of 20 grimm in the room by then, and the simulation had only been running for five minutes.

Blanc froze the nevermores with small glyphs in a feat that left Weiss shocked; she could generate several bolts using dust and her weapon but Blanc had destroyed them with aura glyphs. She didn't think even Winter could generate multiple glyphs at the same time. Blake noticed that he'd also accelerated his body forward again; he was using his aura and semblance to make his body move. She'd seen Weiss do the same, including bouncing between multiple glyphs, but she'd never seen them applied to specific limbs. The result was remarkable as his blades penetrated bone plate that normally would have been glancing blows. As the fight continued, Blanc got faster and faster as the grimm died more and more quickly.

Goodwitch was slackjawed. She'd thought the report from the simulation Blanc had run previously, while unobserved, had been in error when it read at over 170 grimm killed, but Blanc was now past the 60 mark and getting better. He'd yet to take a blow. "That's our Mr. Impossible." Nora's cheery voice rang out, giving voice to thoughts in all of their heads. For Glynda, this was like seeing a maiden in action. For Weiss, it was a reminder of how much more she could be if she applied herself and her power.

Ren's attention wasn't on the astounding speed of the kills, or the use of glyphs to enhance Blanc's combat; he'd seen Pyrrha do the same thing with her semblance, though perhaps not to this degree against grimm. Blanc manipulated the grimm; making them work against each other, baiting them into positions from which he gained strategic advantage and often was able to land multiple killing blows quickly. This was Jaune's strategic mind at work, trained and accelerated by Aura and glyphs. It'd been hinted at when Blanc had fought the upper classmen at the beginning of the year, but Ren could see the true power in doing this, even at a slower rate like Jaune often did. This was what made Jaune into a leader rather than a humble soldier, and Ren finally understood Ozpin's decision.

The room was flooded with grimm, not just beowolves, ursa, borbatusks, but more extravagant examples like gryphons and king taijitu. There was a goliath and a beringel, which none of the trainees had seen before. Blanc whittled away at their number, often maneuvering so that the larger grimm killed the smaller grimm for him, getting tangled up in them and leaving them open to his attacks. By now, the increase in toughness and size of his enemies had begun to reduce the speed at which his kill count increased, but he'd still not taken a blow. His aura had depleted from constant use, but not to a significant degree, indicating how strong his reserves really were. Glynda knew he wouldn't use his time semblance; he was keeping that a secret and there were those in the observation room, and perhaps watching via video feed elsewhere, who wouldn't know about it. The medic looked over at her as the kill count passed 200. "I'm pretty sure he's fine to resume combat class." She concurred and halted the simulation. The kill count was at 212 and Blanc had been about to increase that to at least 214 in the next second, judging by his slide through empty space as the emitters shut off.

He looked up at the observation booth. "I take it I pass?" Goodwitch nodded, then replied. "Be prepared for class tomorrow." Blanc slide his tonfa back into the holsters in his coat, then made to leave the training room. Blake and Weiss were wide-eyed, but Ren and Nora simply left to go congratulate their friend.

When the doors to the room opened, Blanc was greeted to everyone in the pavilion staring at him; on the overhead screens his simulation was replaying; the automation showing highlights where the kill count jumped a large number, such as when he'd used frost glyphs to destroy the nevermore flock early on rather than engage them directly. Everything in the pavilion had stopped; hundreds of people had watched his fight and were now looking at him in awe.

"Shit."

Blanc headed into the locker room, to shower and wait out the crowd who would hopefully leave. He sent a message on his scroll to Ren, who he'd noticed before going into the locker room, asking him if he'd let Blanc know when the coast was clear for him to leave. It'd been more than an hour since. The door opened, and in entered the man he'd been waiting on. "You may as well go. They're not leaving."

Blanc sighed, picked up his bag, and walked over to Ren. "Is there some kind of back exit? Maybe you can turn me invisible or something?" The Asiatic man just grinned in his subtle way, and they both turned to the only door from the locker room. Blanc was prepared to simply march on without stopping, but the crowd around the door was huge and packed in together. He was shocked.

"Why are you all here?" Yells from around him told him "That was awesome." "Show us again." "Get me pregnant!" His head jerked in that direction, the crowd laughing. At the front of the crowd were the monkey faunus he'd seen with Blake, joined by a blue-haired man wearing goggles, standing with Blake and Weiss. He stepped up to Weiss and Blake. "What's going on? Why is everyone still here?"

Nora had been standing behind them. "Because that was totally awesome!" She began chanting 'impossible' which somehow the crowd picked up as 'unstoppable'. Weiss moved up to him, a bit uncomfortable because of their almost complete lack of interaction prior to this. "You set a new record, across all of Remnant, and they stopped the simulation rather than you being knocked out. It's quite an achievement. They want to see how far you can take it." Now the chant morphed into 'Encore'.

Blanc rubbed his temples, stepping away from everyone. "Look, I appreciate the support but I just want to back to my room." When the crowd didn't part, Nora screamed "Make way or I'll make you make way!", and the crowd broke, leaving a path to the door. He felt several pats on his back, and some slaps on his ass, including at least one grope, but he didn't stop to recognize or check on anyone. He wondered if this was how Pyrrha felt, and what she worried about when she came to Beacon.

People mostly let him be once he'd existed the pavilion, but Blanc guessed that was because most who'd seen him fight had still been there. Tomorrow would be a different story. Ren and Nora escorted him, but Blake, Sun, Weiss, and the blue-haired guy followed. Unexpectedly, when they arrived at his dorm building, it was Weiss who stopped him. "I need to talk to you. How are we related?"

Blanc looked at her, over to Blake and the others, and back. Blake was observant, and she had nothing to cover her watchfulness, so she didn't try to hide her scrutiny. "Well, Ms. Schnee. I believe I've been asked that by someone else at this institution before. If you want an answer, you're going to have to be more to me than someone who marches up and demands things from me. Even if your father pays my bills." She was shocked; no one had spoken like that to her before that she could remember. It wasn't disrespectful, but she usually bullied her way into getting what she wanted, and Blanc hadn't backed down at all. But he also hadn't told her he wouldn't tell her. "Well, at the least, can you show me how you do what you did with those glyphs?"

Her surprise when he promised he'd do so couldn't help but show on her face. He know that Ren would likely want to talk to him as well, based on the looks he'd gotten from the introspective man, but he also suspected that if he didn't have Blake's interest before, he certainly had it now. "I'm going to be pretty busy catching up and preparing for our finals; next semester?"

She nodded and stepped away, going back to Neptune, who intrigued her in a way Blanc did not. Plus, Neptune was likely to make her father upset, and Blanc obviously had his favor. Nora gave him a hug, then took Ren by the arm, who waved as they walked away. The other four departed as well, with a bit of 'Good nights' going between him and the other four. From there, it was early evening, and he decided to avoid getting food with the rest, and instead cook for himself in his rooms.

Given his morning with Yang, he hoped she could hold herself to their agreement to wait on their relationship. He wanted to talk to her, about Blake primarily, but he also needed to talk to Jaune about the upcoming break, and he needed to study, and he was sure that if Yang showed up, he wouldn't be able to resist her if she tried to push him into sex. His rational mind knew he needed to wait, but his body wasn't on board with that.

Fortunately for him, it was a quiet evening. He did send a memo to Yang to tell her good night, and that he hoped things with Ruby were okay, mentioning nothing about his test or the reaction from the crowd or Yang's teammates.

* * *

 **Beacon Cliff, above Emerald Forest**

Ruby stared out at the setting sun over the forest. She could feel her sister standing behind her, watching quietly. She new Yang wanted to talk to her, but she wasn't sure if she wanted that to happen. Burned into her memory was the terrified face of her first friend at Beacon, her blade about to take his life. Maybe she wasn't in the right place; she wasn't ready to make decisions about life and death when she didn't know who she was anymore. It seemed like everyone was keeping secrets from her, old and new, and ... what? She didn't know what she wanted anymore.

"Ruby?" She didn't respond, not even twitching when she felt Yang's hand on her shoulder. Still like a statue, she ignored the blonde woman. It wasn't really fair; Yang's secrets had been Blanc's, and though it hurt she understood why they had to be kept. Dust, the end of the world?

"I've never seen you like this?"

Ruby turned to her. "Like you don't know who I am? Join the club." She turned her head away again. "I don't even understand why they'd just trick us... I guess it wasn't meant to hurt but... now I feel like I don't really have a dad, either, you know? And Blanc... I don't know how you can stand it."

Yang sighed but didn't say anything for a minute. "I love him. I love you. I think... I think everyone's just doing their best, and making mistakes. Sometimes I guess we don't know what the smallest decisions will mean over time. And don't ask me about Blanc... Dust that's so fucked up. Ruby? I don't know if I can save him from himself."

Ruby turned to her. "Maybe you're not supposed to." Yang was shocked. "Maybe we only have the time we have, and we should just enjoy it while we do. You knew my mom, better than me I think. I... I just wish I could have her back for a little while." She paused, waiting. "I wanted to ask him to save mom. I know he can't, I know he said he can't go back again like that - it'd destroy him before he could make it. I still want to ask. What's wrong with me?"

Yang didn't say anything. He was like some sort of magic oracle - full of answers they didn't always understand, but the price of the answer was damning. "Yang? I think I was going to kill Jaune. It was like... like he wasn't there. Like he was Uncle... like he was my dad and I was so angry and I just couldn't see him until... I don't think I can do this anymore."

Yang pulled her into a hug. "You don't have to, but I want you to wait; think about it over the break. Work things out with dad and uncle Qrow, maybe even talk to Blanc; you definitely need to apologize to Jaune. Dust, it's a wonder Pyrrha's not after your head."

"Pah, I could take her." Yang's eyebrow rose. "Yeah, okay. She'd murder me. Maybe she should."

"I was tempted." Pyrrha stood behind them, in her armor, her blade and shield still on her back. "He'd hate me if I hurt you - Jaune. He'll want to see you Ruby. You inspire him, and you're a great friend. You're a powerful warrior, a thoughtful leader... you're a hero Ruby, and this is your place. Here, with us, right now." She reached out to Ruby, grasping her forearm. "I forgive you. Jaune forgives you. Your past is part of who you are, but what you do, what decisions you make? That's who you really are."

Ruby looked up to the redhead, tears flowing from her eyes. "What did you hear?"

"Enough to know you need your friends. Enough to know you are still you. When you're ready, we'll be here." She pulled the girl into a quick hug, then swiftly separated and turned away. "Blanc's test is over." Yang gasped and Ruby slapped her forehead. "Did he ... did he do okay?"

She turned her head back to them. "We watched it in the infirmary. I think it was over the entire school. I... no one is going to look at Blanc the same anymore. You both need to be very careful what you say about him, and around who. I don't think Blanc has any idea how bad its going to get."

Yang chuckled. "He wrecked them?"

"A new record, across remnant. Everyone is going to know who he is now."

Yang looked at Ruby, who was looking back. "Not good." Yang nodded back, then checked her scroll to see his memo. "Looks like he's gone to bed. Guess it's just us girls." Pyrrha had already left, so the two sisters began to walk back to their room. Yang searched on her scroll, finding a new viral video on the CCTS. She stopped Ruby, and together they watched the video, eyes widening as time went on. Ruby looked over at her sister. "I thought he didn't want to get noticed."

* * *

 **Note:** I wrote this just letting the characters flow into the situations and letting my imagination see where it took them. After I finished Blanc's test, the next day I started thinking about the implications of the training being recorded (Goodwitch mentions it at the beginning of the test) and the likelyhood of that video getting out, and then just let it happen. I didn't really plan that, so we'll see where it goes the way the characters do. It did add a scene in my head and while I don't think it will substantially change the storyline as I see it going, I think I'm going to have to add material to tie this off.

I read that good storytellers let their characters act as they would rather than forcing them to act as they wished for the plot; I'm trying to do that. So far I think it's gone fairly well.

I'm still doing all my own editing, and looking back through previous chapters I've left numerous words that aren't the right word and grammar mistakes. I'm planning to fix them but... honestly I'd rather be writing. We'll see. Thank you for reading.


	32. Chapter 32

**Eastern Bullwark, Atlas, three weeks before the time ritual**

Blanc ran passed one of the massive drone deployment carriers; huge metal monstrosities designed to quickly deploy the remote controlled mechanical units used as fighters after the AI models were outlawed following Beacon's fall. It appeared to be half-full, a good sign, except that it wasn't deploying anymore. Either they were winning on this front and didn't need the reinforcements or... they wouldn't have called for his support if things were going well, not with the Western Bullwark so hard pressed and the slaughter that was the southern front. Another artillery barrage landed along that front; closer and closer as the line of grimm reached further and further into the trench network. He didn't know how much longer they could hold, especially without his support.

He'd been fighting or moving between the fronts for nearly eight hours without rest; air transport had been unavailable for seven of those hours, even with the heavy flak batteries constantly killing airborne grimm. At least the constant base thumping continued; it was really the only thing keeping the ground forces from being slaughtered by the cloud of nevermores and other assorted aerial attackers now that the fleets were all destroyed, having spent the last year or more in a holding action to keep the grimm from crossing to the continent en masse, and finally failing.

Exhaustion continued to threaten to set in, but he needed to reach the eastern command post and talk to Coco. The area was remarkably quiet; another bad sign over all, and once he reached the rear command post, he discovered why. All of the local mobile drone control vehicles were destroyed, grimm picking apart the remains of the pilots, and Coco's minigun lay on the blood soaked ground; beowolves by the thousands charged across the top of the trenches, nothing firing at them, not even the heavy gun emplacements which should have been manned directly. Despair reached into his heart, and found righteous fury as once again he called upon the stolen power, it's hunger and anger driving him mad, and rose into the air, fire glowing from his eyes like small wings. He reached out his arms at the approaching grimm, as if welcoming them, and then the sky grew dark and lighting ripped across their line for a solid kilometer, frying thousands and blowing the now dead trenches apart. He swung his right arm in and then threw it out again, a tornado ripping down from the sky into a burning gun emplacement and sweeping up the fire, then throwing the burning cyclone across the line and out into the grimm still pouring down the lines. With his left, he called up every small stone, stick, and leaf and froze them into icy shards, then threw them into the lines, again slaughtering grimm by the score. It was not enough. A glyph appeared behind him and he ripped into their lines directly, blades in his hands, rippling down their lines as he ripped through time and space with his semblance powered by the power of the fall maiden, finally returning to his position at the command bunker; nothing was alive in front of him for a solid half-kilometer in any direction in his point of view, but immediately the space began to fill in black again as fast moving grimm moved in like the ocean, pushed back temporarily but inevitable like the tide.

"Blanc, come in." He reached up, his body trembling with exhaustion. "Blanc, come in, this is central command."

"I'm... I'm here."

"Report, where are you?" The voice was hallowed out and mechanical; it was necessary to save bandwidth for the huge numbers of drones in use; they transmitted text instead and had the local device translate back into speech.

"I'm at the eastern command post; everything is destroyed, the line is broken. I'm the only one alive here."

He waited patiently for a response, but he did not have to wait long. "The line broke an hour ago. Fall back. We will transmit a pickup location; we're pulling out all remaining forces."

"But the civilians!"

The voice chattered back immediately. "Be advised the grimm are already in the city, killing the civilians. We can't save them anymore. Rendezvous at the pickup for retreat back to the citadel. We're out of options. It's time to prepare the ritual."

Blanc gave up. There would be no turning back now; humanity's last bastion was falling. Artillery ripped across the trenches behind him, smashing into the grimm, but he could pick up the faint rippling of the ghouls as they ripped backwards in time and space using what was stolen from his semblance, charging back across the line as if nothing had happened. Once again he was reminded that his failure had doomed humanity. He charged out of the bunker, past the useless drone carriers, and into the city itself.

The stench of death was everywhere, he could hear faint screams as something extinguished another human life outside his view. Overhead, the mobile drone control vehicles flew back to the citadel, anti-air missile barrages splashing flak across the dying hordes of aerial grimm that chased them. A massive explosion in the west, too big to be artillery, lit up the sky in the fading daylight. "All forces be advised, the southwestern dust generator has had a catastrophic failure. Automated defenses in that area are inoperable. The rumble of the flak cannons lessened, and he knew that the survivors from that front would never make it back to the safety of the actual fortress school of Atlas.

He lept over a destroyed vehicle, keeping as much of his momentum as possible, adrenaline the only thing keeping him from collapsing after having used so much of his aura and relied on the power of the fall maiden and it's maddening hatred of him. Ahead, a family of four was running; a man holding the hand of a young boy, dragging him, and a mother with a small girl in her arms. He ran up to them.

"Please, you have to help us! We haven't seen anyone in so long; the shelters are overrun."

"Follow me, I'll do what I can. Keep up no matter what; we can't stop." He scooped up the small boy. "Thank you, we'll never..." a beowolf jumped on the man, ripping his chest open and plunging it's snout into the cavity. The mother screamed, but Blanc reached over and pulled her. "We have to run!" The children were screaming.

"Be brave... be brave..." he said between pants, gasping for air. The refreshed adrenaline from seeing the man die right in front of him had renewed some of his strength, but his heart was pounding so hard he was sure it would explode. He felt like he might be dying in slow motion. A flicker of movement in front of him and to his left; he pulled his bolt pistol from his holster and fired, the bolt striking a ghoul from the side and in the head. The electromagnetic hum sung briefly afterward. He'd got it before it saw him. A rare kill without using his semblance to chase them through time. He hadn't seen the second, which slashed the mother open from behind. She stumbled and fell, the boy screaming for his mother, but Blanc didn't turn, didn't stop. If he stopped they'd all die.

He broke the door to the building for his pickup with a swift kick, the flailing boy in his arms making it a struggle. He ran forward, found the stairwell, then charged up the stairs as fast as his body would allow, slowing all the while as fatigue took its tool. "Why... why didn't you save them mister? Why?" He couldn't answer, and not just because he was out of breath. "The hero is supposed to save us... you're supposed to be the hero. Why?"

He reached the roof and barreled out to the armored bullhead, actual troops fanned out to the sides to guard his retreat. Yang was on board, first pulling the boy up from his arms, then him. They left without picking up the troops; a death sentence, but one they'd likely volunteered for as he saw them going back down the stairwell to face the enemy. "Why mister, why didn't you save momma and Braunen?" The kid hit him, over and over, but Blanc just took it without saying a word, tears flowing from Yang's eyes as she understood the terrible choice he must've made. "I hate you. You're not a hero!" The boy threw himself toward Yang, who pulled him up into her arms to comfort him, and Blanc's head fell, exhaustion, fear, grief, despair, and self-loathing all filling him. He didn't respond.

In his heart, he knew the boy was right. He was no hero.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy, Blanc's bedroom**

Blanc shot up, his nude body and bed drenched in sweat. He looked over at the clock; he'd only been asleep a few hours. He fell back, then thought better of it, and got up to strip the bed. The broken moon shown full, light flowing through his window across his nude form as he pulled the sheets away from the mattress to put them on the floor. He'd wash them later. He pulled out a new set of sheets, set them on the bed, then gave it up and stumbled into the other room. The nanolathe was finished. He flipped on the light, opened it, pulled out the Boltor and began to check it for defects. Finding that it met with his standards, he set it down and began to program the machine to create a second copy, then put in the bulk materials to make the second weapon. it slid shut and began it's tireless work.

He flopped down on his couch, careful not to injure himself by sitting on one of his projects or some other piece of equipment he kept littering the room, and tried to calm his racing heart. He'd never been more tired than that day, never hated himself so much as he did at the moment when that boy reminded him that he wasn't a hero. Yang had understood, of course. The city fell entirely that day, only the fortress remained, with whatever survivors it could hold. As it turned out, they'd been prepared for more than actually made it; the line fell faster than expected and most of the civilians didn't make the journey in time, and most of the military personnel never made it off the front lines. The fortress was understaffed and overstocked, but even so it would not hold forever. So, they'd prepared the ritual to send him back in time. It was their last gambit to save humanity.

It was the week of madness afterward that the maiden's power inflicted on him, which had worried the command staff until it subsided, that had sealed his decision to ensure his power transferred to Pyrrha. The original plan had been to have two 'fall maidens', having him kill Cinder after she'd recovered the remaining power from Amber. But when he'd met her, he could feel the maiden's power drawing to her, wanting to leave him and go to it's next selected host. He knew Cinder would be feeling it as well whenever she was near the woman who'd held his father's heart until his dying day.

Unlike him, Cinder wouldn't understand it. She hadn't had more than a decade to come to terms with the power and it's hatred of being hosted in the wrong body, but it practically spoke to him, especially in his dreams and in those moments when he was so mentally exhausted. Images and words spoken by others, strung together from his memory; hateful things spoken to him by people he loved, disjointed because they'd said the words but not the way they were spoken, not to him. It was driving him insane, if he wasn't already, and it would attack Cinder's psyche too, faster as she used the power more and more. The only time it calmed was when he focused on his mission, on the goal of his death to give the power to it's rightful heir. Then there was a faint feeling of peace, of praise, of acceptance while it waited. It was petulant like a child, but it could be patient. It always punished him for using it, however, and he didn't know if his sanity would survive it again.

He checked his scroll; there were a huge number of messages from people he didn't know. News organizations, students from other academies, women and men propositioning him for sexual relationships, agents asking about representation, endorsement deals... what had happened while he was sleeping? He checked a message from Yang.

 _Blanc,_

 _Check this out. You're a star._

 _Love,_

 _Yang_

He followed the link to a public video hosting service, and proceeded to watch the entirety of his test. He hadn't known he was being recorded at all, let alone that it would be available to the public! He checked the video statistics; millions of views.

"Oh shit, what have I done?" This would get noticed; had been noticed by nearly everyone. People from all over the world - there was no way Cinder and her group hadn't seen this. How would Salem react to this?

* * *

 **Vale, Warehouse district, Cinder's safehouse**

"No Mistress, I wasn't aware of him. We were certain their greatest fighter would be Pyrrha Nikos." Cinder's face looked pissed at being blindsided by whatever the caller she was calling 'Mistress' was saying.

"No, but I'll be sure to look into it. No, Mistress. I don't think we need... of course, if you think it's necessary. I'll do it myself."

Mercury continued to watch his boss, Emerald and his side, looking worried. She'd been with Cinder longer, was trusted more, and they had some sort of bond he didn't have with either, even if he was having sex with Emerald.

"Mistress, I really think... of course. I understand. It will be done." Cinder disconnected the call. Emerald came to her; her face worried. "Are you okay?"

Cinder looked at her, eyes lit up in anger. "No, I'm not okay. She's sending Tyrian." Emerald looked at her, but said nothing, so he spoke up instead. "Who's this Tyrian guy, and why is he coming?"

She turned her scroll around, and showed them the video Salem had sent her. After it was over, they both felt shocked; they'd never seen anyone fight like that before. "Damn."

Cinder's anger cooled. "Indeed. I offered to take care of it myself, but our Mistress is concerned that getting involved would jeopardize our plan, so she's sent her devoted village idiot to kill him instead."

Mercury responded. "Guy looks powerful and skilled, but what could one guy do against what you have planned?" Cinder's face turned toward him, and he turned away from her glare. "We do not like surprises. This isn't the sort of plan you take risks with, even small ones. We're prepared for Nikos, even for Ozpin, but no one foresaw this. It's a problem that must be eliminated before we continue."

"Well, let me take care of it." Cinder grabbed him by the throat, lifting him from the ground, maiden power flaring to life in one eye. "Fool, did you not just hear me say we were told not to get involved?" Her hand tightened on his throat and he began to choke. Emerald touched her arm, and Cinder relaxed, letting him drop into a heap on the ground.

"No, we'll do nothing. We're not to be noticed, is that understood? No little jobs in Vale, no small contracts, not even helping Roman with his student problem. Am I clear?"

Mercury nodded, trying to catch his breath, then responded in a horse voice. "Crystal."

Cinder smiled. "Good, now, let's get back to it. Our backgrounds have to be perfect, including the documentation. Roman's forgeries are wonderful, but their electronic counterparts need work."

Mercury leaned over to Emerald as Cinder stopped back to one of the terminals they'd setup to hack into Haven Academy. "She sure could use getting laid." Before Emerald could reply, Cinder spoke to them without turning around. "Unfortunately, there's only been one man in this entire city worth bothering to do that with, and it's not you, Mercury. Now get to work."

Mercury knew from Emerald that she'd fucked some guy when Roman had stood her up for a meeting over at Junior's. Cinder had been extraordinarily pleasant afterward, prompting Emerald to inquire about it, and for once, Cinder talked about something other than the mission or how disappointed she was in the two of them. It hadn't taken long for that effect to wane, and Mercury had made the foolish mistake of offering to be a substitute. Emerald hadn't been pleased, but had laughed when Cinder had instead offered to castrate him. After that, Cinder had ordered Emerald to make sure his sexual needs were accommodated, and as always, Emerald had complied. Mercury knew Emerald was infatuated with Cinder and wasn't really interested in him at all, but he didn't turn her down when she offered, and he was able to relieve the green-haired theive's needs as well, even if he wasn't the desired partner for it. He didn't mind coming in second as long as he got to cum.

Cinder, however, would drift off at times, and he was certain she was remembering the man she'd slept with. He'd entertained the idea that she was more interested in this guy than just as a casual fuck, especially when Cinder had started seeming sick about a month later, but she'd recovered quickly. She did seem a bit more... flighty and quick tempered lately.

"Professor Lionheart's help has made this simple." Mercury wasn't certain who that was, but Emerald seemed to understand, and he didn't want to appear stupid, so he said nothing. "There, that should backstop our story enough to pass notice." The dossier on them was somewhat accurate; he wasn't sure about Cinder's age, but Emerald had let her's slip, and his was correct. He could tell Cinder's lied about her fighting style, and nothing was said about his legs, but even if these were real the hunter database tended to be inaccurate and wasn't kept up to date at any academy; certainly it wasn't at Beacon.

Cinder logged out, then turned to her minions. "I think it's time we check on Roman's progress, don't you?" Cinder hadn't been happy with him when she'd been forced to rescue him from that scythe wielder, but even less so now that he'd lost that huge dust shipment; one that had been handed to them on a silver platter. He'd blamed the white fang, but Cinder wasn't interested in his excuses. Mercury could still savor the look of fear in the theive's eyes when Cinder's had lit up with her threat, and even that heterochromatic murderer he kept in his employ wouldn't save him from Cinder's wrath. Still, she had a tight body and Mercury would love to give it a spin.

"Coming?" Cinder had already left the room, and Emerald had stopped, smirking, no doubt having a notion of what had been on his mind, though not for who.

"Yeah, sure."


	33. Chapter 33

**Beacon Infirmary, Jaune Arc's room, the following morning**

Ruby walked in, Yang on her heels, as Jaune was sitting on the bed with Pyrrha fussing over him. He was flexing his arm; the one she broke yesterday. There was no cast; his aura having healed him completely even after it was re-broken to help it mend correctly. "Oh, Hey Ruby... you in uhh, a better mood?"

"I'M SO SORRY!" Ruby began to weep, and for once Yang didn't get angry about it. Ruby couldn't look up at her friend. "I don't know what to say."

Pyrrha said nothing, knowing they both needed to talk about what happened. "Yang, would you join me outside?" Yang looked to Ruby, who nodded, and then they two women left together, discussing getting some coffee as Pyrrha and Jaune had eaten already. Ruby turned back to her friend, looking through her bangs at him. She seemed like she was about to speak, then stopped, started again, and finally gave up. "I'm sorry. I've not been myself."

"I've never seen you so aggressive before. It was like you hated me. I tried to talk you down, or something, but..."

Ruby looked down at the ground again. "I don't think I could hear you. I wasn't listening; I'm not sure my mind was even really there. I just... I've been so angry. First I find out that Yang's dad isn't my dad, so Yang isn't really my sister but a cousin, and then that my kinda uncle is really my dad and they've been lying the whole time, then I find out about Blanc and... I guess it was too much."

"I can see that Rubes. I just... why me?" Ruby looked at him. "I didn't pick you out or anything. You're just what got put in front of me. I think ... I think I would have done that to anyone." Tears began to flow out of her eyes again, and she began to sob. Jaune got up and held her in a hug. "It's okay... I'm okay. It's all okay, Ruby." He had a lot of sisters, and Ruby was kind of like a sister to him, so he felt comfortable doing with her what he would do with his other sisters. He held her until she cried herself out, noticing Yang and Pyrrha stop by the door, then step away again.

It felt like hours but it was probably just a few minutes. "I'm... I'm sorry, I guess I soaked your shirt." Jaune squeezed his friend in a tight hug. "Don't worry about it. Do you... do you want to talk about that stuff you were saying about your dad?"

"No. Yes. I dunno. I just... I've always lived with Yang and dad... I guess he's uncle Tai now but... Jaune, why do people keep secrets like that? Why... why didn't my dad stay, especially after my mom died? I feel like I'm completely alone. Like he didn't want me." Her tears began to flow again, so Jaune pulled her back to his admittedly wet shirt. "I don't know anything about the other stuff, but you're not alone Ruby. Yang might not... might not be your sister but if I know anything, it's that family isn't always just blood. Family is what you make it. And... well, we're your family too. Me and Pyrrha, Yang, even Blanc."

She chuckled. "Yeah, I'm like his freaking mom or something." She squinted her nose up. "I was checking his ass out the other day. He's got a good looking booty. And now it feels all creepy." He looked down at the little reaper. "Uh, he and I look a lot alike." Ruby grinned up at him, squeezed his ass on both cheeks, then replied "I know."

"Hey!" Ruby danced out of his hands, her eyes still puffy but a smile on her face, and then out of the room as Jaune chased after her. He'd suffer through a bit of groping if it helped Ruby make it through the day.

* * *

 **Goodwitch's Combat Class, that afternoon**

Blanc stood on the floor, armored coat on and tonfa drawn, waiting for the selection of his opponent. This would be the final fight before finals. Professor Port had already passed Blanc on the strength of his performance in the trial the evening before; it seemed as though there wasn't anyone around who didn't know. Blanc had avoided eating outside his room, slipped into class late to avoid crowds, sat at the back and left as soon as he could. Still, he'd been harangued the entire day, constantly stopped by people giving him pats on the back, cheers; a group of upper class huntresses had even flashed their chests at him and asked him to sign them - each breast, individually. He'd declined, of course, and Yang had simply laughed because of how uncomfortable he was with all the attention. Even the group who'd jumped him outside the dining hall had apologized, though he suspected they figured he'd let them off lightly. And frankly, he had.

These were warriors in training, carrying weapons and practicing at martial arts and to defend humanity, but for the most part, they were really still children. Chronologically, he wasn't much different, and his hormones certainly were similar, but mentally and emotionally, Blanc had experienced things he sincerely hoped none of them ever would, and it had made him into an adult even as a young child. There was always a sword hanging over his head by a thread, this mission and his pending fate, the power he held and the people trying to kill him to take it. First to give up everything he'd known to go back in time, and then after his week of madness, when he'd put everyone in the fortress in danger as the power inside him raged at him and everyone else for being denied it's true place, the decision that he'd have to pass the power on. He'd come to it during his fit of madness, and it's what calmed that storm. He wasn't sure you could call the maiden's power sentient, but it had desires and it expressed them, and when he'd come upon the idea of dying on his mission to pass the power, the madness had faded, the storm had stopped raging, and he'd finally felt a bit of peace from the damn thing that had tormented him his entire life.

It was the bargain he made; the power wouldn't fight him when he used it to go back, and in exchange, he'd surrender it. And that meant dying. It was a timeless power; he wasn't sure what it was aware of other than that it wasn't where it was supposed to be, but so long as he didn't use it, the power remained patient for him to fulfill his end of their 'bargain'.

"Yang Xiao Long, please join Mr. Arc for this fight." Blanc quirked his head to the side and gave Gramma Glynda his version of the stink-eye. Their relationship wasn't a secret. "For today, you two will operate as a team." This wasn't normal. "It's quite obvious that you're both accomplished fighters as individuals, but Mr. Arc has no team, and as hunters and huntresses we work best as a group."

Yang walked over to her beau. "Guess we'll be partners today." She bumped her fist into his, going into the same handshake that she shared with Ruby. "Hey, that's ours!" was heard from the peanut gallery that was the remainder of team RWBY. "For your opponents..." Goodwitch scrolled down on her data pad. "Team Juniper."

Blanc grumbled under his breath. "Ma'am, Jaune just got out of the infirmary, and he just had a bout yesterday."

"I am aware of that Mr. Arc. However, medical has cleared him for class today, including combat."

"Not going to ease me into it, are you?" Blanc replied. She looked at him with a sincere demeanor. "Do you feel like you need to be eased into it, Mr. Arc? After your performance yesterday, I'd think you're quite ready." He sighed and gave up. By then, JNPR had arrived at the floor, in gear and looking determined, including Jaune. Nora spoke first. "Nothing personal, but it's time to break some legs!"

"Right back atcha, sister!" Yang always loved pre-battle banter.

Blanc knew he could win, but he was pretty sure he shouldn't, and winning would rely upon using his real semblance, particularly if Pyrrha started using hers, which was no longer a secret. He could get away with speeding up his movements, even throwing some dust casting in, but that likely wouldn't be enough if Pyrrha started pulling his weapons away. Hopefully the new tonfa he was using would help. "We got this, right Blanc?"

He fell out of his combat stance. "Seriously? We've never fought together before, and they've been fighting together all semester. And in case you forgot, that's Pyrrha..." Yang grumbled, put off by what looked like a lack of confidence in her abilities. "I can take her." Blanc smiled, and it felt to Yang like she'd fallen into a trap. "Okay, she's all yours. I'll take care of the others."

"Hey!" a chorus of discontent from team JNPR's remaining members, spoken at the same time, reached their ears, causing Blanc to bark out a laugh.

"If you're all ready?" Goodwitch interupted. "Um, excuse me Professor Goodwitch, but can I talk to my team for a moment?" She nodded her consent to Jaune, who broke off and had his group follow him to formulate a plan. Yang turned toward her lover. "What do you think they're doing?"

"Well, if you can hold off Pyrrha long enough, I can take the other three. They already know I can. So... my guess is they're not going to play along with our plan. Pyrrha will come after me, the rest after you."

She responded. "I think I can beat them." He gave her a questioning look. "Three of them, with Nora?" She started to get a bit upset. "Hey, I'm a damn good fighter."

He put his hand on her shoulder, giving her support. "I know you are, but have you ever fought multiple, skilled attackers before? I've fought Pyrrha; even one on one she's going to beat me. I can hold her off for a while but... listen, this is a test of my ability to work in a team, right? Goodwitch already knows you can, so this is testing me. If we're just splitting up and fighting our own individual battles, it's not going to show her anything, even if we win. So, let's do this. I'll use some glyphs to slow them down; you keep them off me a few seconds so I can get them in place. Then we'll pick them off; make them work against each other rather than together. Nora's easy to taunt into screwing up whatever Jaune's plan is; go after Ren first and she'll ignore it to go after you."

"And what about Pyrrha?"

"Pyrrha isn't easy to bait; she'll stick to the plan unless she sees an opportunity or it falls apart. And frankly, Jaune is a good strategist. I know you guys think he's a buffoon, but he's actually very good at this." Blanc knew that Jaune's strength in the team was his planning, and his ability to adjust it while in combat. Of the four, he was easily still the worst fighter, but Blanc knew he was also the linchpin of the team. The problem was, he had time to plan and they couldn't do anything about it.

Jaune signaled that they were ready, and the six teenagers formed up, two on one side, four on the other.

"As a reminder, no explosive weaponry is permitted in the arena, Ms. Valkyrie. In addition, you will refrain from using the protective shielding provided to the observers as a surface to run upon or damage your opponents. Are these rules understood?" Professor Goodwitch had begun to specify such things after Nora and Ren had used both tactics in earlier fights that semester. The group nodded. Yang's shotgun blasts did not count as explosives as they wouldn't damage the barrier, but Nora's grenades had actually knocked it down for a few moments.

"Begin!"

Stormflower immediately began burping shells at Blanc; the louder noise obvious as his armored coat took a beating. It didn't last long, however, as a shotgun blast from Ember Celica forced Ren out of position. Nora reacted as predicted, changing targets from Blanc to Yang. The switch caused her to get in Pyrrha's way, stalling her own attack. Blanc rolled to the left side as Jaune came down from the air, knee first and slamming into the floor. But Blanc was now positioned behind Yang, and brown time dilation glyphs began to form on the legs of their opponents. They weren't as effective as Weiss' larger glyphs, but they would slow movement.

Pyrrha pulled the same trick as Jaune, using her boots to boost up over Nora, who'd activated her semblance with a charge from the grip he'd given her. "Well, they're going all out." Blanc spoke to no one in particular, rolling back and blocking a swipe from Milo in spear form. Blanc used his tonfa to grip the head of the spear in his block, using a cross shape and tightening down like a pair of scissors, then pulled, dragging Pyrrha forward. She'd usually follow this with a shield bash, a move she'd drilled into Jaune for the same purpose, but the long end of the tonfa were now pointed at her back along Blanc's forearms, and she had to deflect them. Instead her shield was met with a kick, pushing her back as Yang rolled under Nora's horizontal swing and came up, blasting away at Ren as he tried to reposition himself.

Jaune pressed the attack from Blanc's right side, pressuring him back and forcing him to change his view so that he could keep both fighters in view. Pyrrha let Jaune take the lead; Blanc blocked his strikes effectively but they left him open to her shield thrusts. His swirling ankle-length coat, however blocked his foot movements, and what she'd thought was a dodge to a thrust turned out to be a roundhouse kick to Jaune. Her knight hadn't been prepared, and was tossed to the side at Pyrrha, and rather than follow up, Blanc shot forward, glyphs in his legs and arms, and struck Nora in the back as she swung at his blonde partner for the match.

Nora had a lot of stamina and incredible strength, but she was mostly a glass cannon, and she wore little that worked as armor, the rapid drop in her aura from to fast slashing strikes, powered by Blanc's glyphs, were enough to drop her aura into the red. Goodwitch called her out and the warhammer of team Juniper was out of the match.

Ren and Yang were trading blows, Ren with his quick and fluid martial arts, but Yang was the stronger fighter overall, and simply overwhelmed him with her quick fists and shotgun blasts. With a final twin-blast, sending her back to the other side of arena, Ren was out of the match as well. Jaune and Pyrrha had not been idle, however. Jaune slammed into Blanc's back, boots firing and knocking Blanc to the ground, his tonfa thrown out of his hands. Pyrrha turned back to the 'little sunny dragon' and attacked; quick strikes, getting closer into Yang's guard and with Yang low on ammo and unable to breach Pyrrha's shield.

Jaune lept forward, coming down at where Blanc lay on his stomach, shield first, but Blanc instinctively rolled out of the way, snatching a tonfa up and flipping it into it's longsword form. Both men rose and faced each other; Blanc shot forward, glyphs in his legs, but Jaune was ready and deflected the blade with his shield, stabbing in with his blade. Unfortunately, Blanc was also ready, his hand slapping the blade down on it's flat side, pushing it away from his torso; it stabbed into his coat but did no damage to his aura, and Blanc backhanded his father on the return swing of his arm. It didn't do much to Jaune's massive aura, but it did stun him for a moment.

It didn't take long for Pyrrha to work over Yang. Despite the woman's semblance giving her stronger and stronger strikes, she found herself unable to land a blow on the agile fighter, except to meet her shield. Even though her semblance-powered blows to the shield damaged Pyrrha's aura through it, it wasn't fast enough, and quick strikes with Milo in shortsword form finished her off, leaving Blanc to face the couple alone.

Blanc dropped his tonfa, grabbing Jaune's arm and twisting it behind his back, further confusing the knight and his love, until the tactic became obvious; Jaune was unable to break the hold, despite flailing with his free arm and shield. They'd not trained on this; Pyrrha wasn't even sure she'd be able to break the hold, though she'd never let herself get into that position. Blanc was using it to keep maneuvering Jaune between Pyrrha and himself, like a human shield.

"Come on, Blanc. You can't win this way." But she could see he was slowly working his way toward his other tonfa. She'd beaten him before, with both. She was certain she could again, but her semblance would do nothing for her here; Blanc's coat was armored with ceramic plates to reduce weight. As she tried to lift his tonfa with her power, she discovered that they were non-ferrous as well. Then Pyrrha eyed Crocea Mors. "Jaune, use your boots." The glyphs in the boots flared again, Jaune's aura having restored them as he'd taken no damage, and he lifted off the ground. Blanc was still holding his arm, causing Jaune to pitch forward into a spin, but Blanc took the brunt, thrown off his opponent and across the arena, well past his other blade, and Jaune landed on his feet. It looked as though Jaune had done a forward flip and used that to kick his opponent; a very impressive feat, especially against the one people were now calling the unstoppable man, but in truth it was entirely accidental. Still the crowd cheered him. Crocea Mors rose from the ground, covered in a black glow. "Pyrrha, wait!" Jaune was afraid of what the ever sharp blade could do. It'd been known to pass right through aura before.

The blade shot forward at Blanc like a thrown spear, jamming into the ground right between his legs, punching through his coat like paper and nearly cutting into his groin. "FUCKING SHIT! I YIELD! FUCK PYRRHA!" Pyrrha had the good sense to blush, but the crowd let out a low moan as every man in the room other than Blanc, Jaune included, grabbed their crotch in sympathy pains. "Not cool!"

Yang ran up to her downed lover. "Are you okay?" In the background they could hear Pyrrha's characteristic "Sorry!" but the only wound Blanc suffered was his pride; in truth Jaune had done almost all the damage to his aura, but no one would blame him for surrendering at the prospect of castration by sword. "Can you pull this fucking thing out? I'm pinned here with my coat and afraid that thing is going to cut right through my pants. And for fuck's sake, be careful please!"

She wanted to laugh, but she did as he asked and removed the blade, careful to keep his groin intact. As soon as it was moved away, Blanc breathed a sigh of relief. By then, Juniper had joined them, and Jaune helped Blanc up. "Hey man, sorry about that." Yang was giving Pyrrha a fake glare, but no one was hurt. "Well, my coat is kinda ruined. Guess I'll have to make another."

"Look on the bright side; at least you don't need new underwear. You don't, right?" Yang chuckled.

"Well, I did nearly shit myself but no, I'm fine."

Pyrrha hugged him. "I'm really very sorry. I did not intend to do that."

Professor Goodwitch gave them all good critiques, citing the good teamwork and planning for team Juniper, but also the surprising amount of cooperation between the two fighters when facing off against a larger force, even though they'd not fought together before. She also criticized Pyrrha for what could have been a fatal accident, especially against a weaker and less prepared opponent, and Blanc for not being prepared for Jaune's flip-kick when Jaune had twice used his boots in that very match, as well as Pyrrha. She criticized Nora for going off script from their plans and getting in the way of the fight, and in the end leaving her partner to face a tougher opponent alone.

Overall it was a good fight, however. It showed that despite early showings by team Juniper, they were ready for their final examine, and gave an example of the sort of teamwork and planning expected. It also showed a glaring problem with having Blanc fight an entire team by himself, but at the same time, Blanc's aura hadn't taken much damage either. "Mr. Arc, you really need some sort of ranged option other than your dust casting. While I do not expect you to necessarily win your match for your semester final, I do expect you to give a good showing, especially given your showing yesterday." With that, she dismissed the class for a final weekend before finals.

The rest of RWBY joined JNPR on the floor with Blanc. "Are you okay, Blanc?" Ruby seemed concerned. "Yeah, still not a eunuch."

"A what?"

He chuckled. "Nevermind." Weiss offered to help him with his dust casting; a generous offer to be sure. But not only was he uncomfortable with her help in general, she needed to prepare herself, with her team. "Don't worry about me; I'm saving a few tricks for next week. Speaking of which; Jaune, I need you to come with me to the firing range this weekend."

"Oh yeah? What for?"

"You and I share the same problem, and I have a solution." Blanc then took Yang by the hand. "Well, partner, Dinner at the dining hall? Everyone's invited."


	34. Chapter 34

**Beacon Dining Hall, a few hours after the match between JNPR and Blanc/Yang**

The two teams and Blanc sat at their typical set of tables, laughing and joking around, mostly about Blanc's face when he'd surrendered to Pyrhha. "It's really not that funny. There's just something about messing with, or even threatening to mess with, a man's junk that you just don't do." Blanc was still red faced, though Ren and Jaune had stopped protecting their crotches. "I'm truly sorry Blanc, that hadn't been my intention." the red haired victor spoke.

"So, what, your intention was to impale him then?" Yang piped up. "I honestly hadn't really thought that was a possibility; he still had plenty of aura."

"Well, if there's anyone getting impaled..." Blanc stopped Yang, pointing out Ruby. "Innocent ears."

"But then how am I supposed to make a joke about Jaune..." Blake wisely slapped her hand over her partners mouth. "Forget she said anything... did you just lick me?" The group of teens laughed and joked, the topic changing rapidly and devolving into multiple conversations. It buoyed Blanc's soul; his childhood had been spent training and alone. He'd had no friends and had never had playful experiences, especially not with his mother as she was. Even Weiss was a bit playful, in stark contrast to his memory of the woman.

After dinner, Blanc asked Jaune to join him at the firing range. Ruby was intrigued, and Pyrrha was rarely not with Jaune. Team RWBY had planned to use the weekend to prepare for their team match, but not that evening, so Yang decided to come along as well. Nora and Ren left so spend time together, while the Blake and Weiss left separately. Yang claimed it was to see Sun and Neptune. They stopped by his rooms to pick up the Boltors he'd made for Jaune and himself, then headed for the firing range.

Friday night wasn't a big night for the range, but there were still some students there. Blanc took one of the weapons, inserted a magazine, then a shock dust crystal to power the electromagnets. "This is a Boltor; this replaced the standard dust rifle used by the Atlas military. It fires small metallic bolts at a high speed; about 6 rounds per second. The magazine contains 60 bolts, so about ten seconds of continuous fire. The bolts are pretty cheap and easy to make, and so are the magazines. It uses a lot less dust than using dust rounds and is equally effective, especially against grimm."

He stepped up to a firing booth, brought the weapon to his shoulder, aiming down the spine of the weapon, and fired a short burst. The 15 centimeter bolts shot out, firing in a line across the target. They could see the shots because of the florescent fins at the back of the bolts. It was quieter than the gunfire from other weapons; the Boltor had a small hum from it's electromagnets, but the bolts struck with great force, punching through the target and penetrating the wall behind it. "It should be capable of penetrating most grimm bone."

He fired another burst, and the bolts landed fairly close to each other. "There's force back on your shoulder, but it lacks the recoil of a firearm because of the way the bolt is propelled with electromagnetic coils rather than gunpowder." He put the weapon down on the bench and stepped back, gesturing Jaune forward. "Go ahead, give it a shot." Jaune seemed nervous. "I've never fired a gun before. Of any kind."

Before Blanc could step forward to help, Pyrrha went up in his stead, helping him shoulder the gun correctly, telling him how to aim down the sights, and other things someone new to such weapons would need to know. Blanc smirked a bit, then grinned at Ruby's overtly eager desire to fire the gun herself. "I've got dibs on the next round." By then, the few other students in the firing range had begun to notice the bolts in the target, and wandered over to see the new weapon being tested.

Jaune's first firing did not go so well. He was shocked by the force on his shoulder and dropped the gun the first time he fired it. The second time, he emptied the magazine when he didn't release the trigger, most of the bolts flying into the air, dropping somewhere in the emerald forest beyond the range with any luck. Blanc sighed as Pyrrha fretted and the other students at the range chuckled at his naivete. "Here, let me help. First, change your stance; be a little less rigid and space your legs further apart." He changed the magazine for Jaune, showing him the release and where to insert the next magazine. "Okay, now turn so your body... yeah, like that." He moved Jaune so that he was facing sideways, not quite perpendicular to the target. "Okay, brace the gun against your shoulder and along your torso, so you can hold it comfortably. Left hand out to steady the other end. Yeah... now, lean your head down over the sights. Now, unlike most guns, this isn't going to kick up much, just back. There's no propellant, so no heat. All of the force is going to be straight back against your shoulder. That means the recoil is going to bounce it around in whatever direction you don't support it well, so grip the other end tight to keep it from going out of your control."

Blanc stepped up next to him, opened another case, and pulled out a second Boltor. "Okay, so shoot like this." He put himself in the same stance as Jaune, snapped the rifle up to his shoulder in a well practiced move, quickly leaned his head over the to see down the sights, and fired a burst in a four to five round staccato until he emptied the magazine, keeping all the bolts within a small area on the target downrange. "Quick pull and release; it doesn't have a single-fire mode so it's going to fire a burst of at least three shots; usually more like four or five. Don't hold the trigger down; start slowly, fire then adjust, and repeat until you get the hang of it." Blanc reached into a bag and pulled out several more magazines, put them near Jaune in the firing booth, then stepped back.

Jaune's fire steadily improved; he had the stance mostly right and got the hang of firing in bursts. He had more trouble controlling the shot spread, but Blanc knew that would take practice. The Boltor was never going to be accurate enough for more than mid-range fighting. The nature of the bolts meant that Pyrrha's semblance would be able to alter or control their path, or even stop them completely perhaps, but their thin nature, along with the large amount of acceleration from the magnetic coils meant not just a lot of force and energy delivered to the target, but a lot of pressure, which allowed it to pierce armor. "You shouldn't use this against human targets; Aura will stop it of course, depending on how strong, and obviously the bolts are affected by magnets or the gun couldn't fire them, but they're intended to penetrate and they will. If you fire this at someone, you're trying to kill them, understand?" Jaune nodded. He had emptied a further two magazines before stepping back.

Ruby had already picked up the other Bolter and was having a great time stitching letters across the target. "This gives me an idea of improving my baby!" Blanc waited until she'd set the rifle down to talk to her. "I don't know if you'll be able to do that; the coils are bulkier tan the shaft of Crescent Rose and you can't fire dust rounds with them, just ferrous material like the bolts." She looked a bit disapponted, but seemed to accept the limitations.

Pyrrha had since picked up the second rifle, fit it to her shoulder, and began firing bursts of bolts herself. The nature of her own weapon allowed her to compensate for the differing recoil easier than Ruby had, so she seemed to pick it up more quickly. "It has quite a kick, even as quiet as it is." Blanc nodded. "The magnets don't make a lot of noise, and as they're coils, the force is continuous. Most of the noise you hear is the bolts hitting near the speed of sound when they exit the electromagnetic field; if the wind is blowing the wrong way the bolts will pass the sound barrier and you'll hear a loud crack. There's no heat, no powder, and the barrel doesn't warp from continued use. The shock dust crystal will drain over time, however."

Jaune turned to his son. "You made this for me?" Blanc grinned. "One for us both, actually. It's impractical to use the Opticor against smaller targets. The bolts are easy to make, as are the magazines, and I've got many more back at my place so you can practice more later." He reached out and clapped Jaune's shoulder. "This isn't intended to help you with sparing matches; I was serious when I told you that using it against a person would likely kill them." The promise to be careful was left unspoken. Jaune put the rifle back in the case Blanc had brought it in, along with two full magazines, and closed it up. Blanc swept the emtpy magazines into a carrying bag, put the second weapon back in it's case, and told them he'd see them later. "I've got to get a plan together for my semester final in combat class. You guys have something in mind for yours yet?"

Jaune looked at Pyrrha, then nodded back to Blanc. "I think we have it covered." When Blanc looked over at Yang and Ruby, they looked more sheepish. "I wouldn't wait if I were you guys." Yang smirked. "We're gonna have it together by the end of the weekend. But, I'm free tonight..." The others took the hint and walked off together, leaving the two alone as the others at the range went back to their previous firing booths, most packing up to leave themselves. "Yang... I... I really need to study."

"Then I'll help you study, and we can be together."

Blanc gave her a look like he didn't trust her. "Just studying?"

She looked shocked. "What kind of girl do you take me for?" He said nothing, continuing to look skeptical. "Fine, I was planning on bedding you tonight."

He stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. "Hun, I'm... I'm not ready." She hugged him back. "I know. I was just going to see what happened. I can keep myself in control. I promise, I'll just help you study. If anything else happens, it'll be you who starts it. Okay? I just... I want to spend time with you."

Blanc leaned back out of the hug, smiled, then took her hand and lead her off to his place. "I trust you."

* * *

 **Blanc's room, Friday evening**

Studying with Yang was a different experience than he expected. Yang was a party-girl at heart, having fun, playing games and making jokes, but when it was time to work, she worked. They started with Obleck's History of Remnant class. Using the syllabus as an outline for the material to cover, Yang quized Blanc about the various time periods, including the color war, the faunus uprising, and even the great political shift which saw Vale and Atlas more aligned while Mistral and Vacuo, enemies in the color war, found common ground. For Blanc, history was the most difficult subject; so much of the world was different when he was growing up; the world was basically united against a common foe, and the ideas of Mistral and Vacuo as different political entities were barely acknowledged. Parts of his memory included historical events that hadn't occurred yet, like the coming fall of Beacon and the beginning of what had been cynically called 'The Last War'. History wasn't something important to him when growing up, he'd been no general, and while he'd been of great importance to the war effort, especially at the end, he was more a weapon than a leader.

Yang's knowledge of history was surprisingly in depth. She'd taken a liking to history as a byproduct of trying to find out more about her mother. She'd never shared much about her mother with Blanc, not in the future, nor did she now, but she made for a good tutor, with the added incentives that being his girlfriend meant. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your perspective, Yang's word regarding his body was not to be trusted. What had started with stroking his arm had moved on to his thigh. Pecks of reward to his cheek became kissed along his jaw and hickeys on his neck. Blanc was not immune; whatever else he might say about it, his body responded to her touches and kisses with unrestrained memory.

They showed remarkable restraint by finishing the syllabus before beginning to make out on his couch. Yang sat on top of her lover, grinding her pelvis into his as they kissed, his shirt removed and her hands roaming his chest. "You are such a bad influence on me, Yang. What would my mother say?" She laughed. "Right now, I think they'd both want in on the action." Blanc stopped. "Gross. That's like me talking about you fucking Tai."

"My dad is kinda hot, if you didn't notice. Much like me." It was playful banter and they both knew it; Yang didn't harbor sexual thoughts about her father any more than Blanc did about either woman he would have called a mother. Yang, however, knew that Ruby found her erstwhile future 'step-son' sexually attractive, and suspected Weiss did as well. The only saving grace was that Weiss didn't know he was her biological child; the idea was a bit far-fetched. "Yang, I really do need to study. You promised." Her panties were soaked and her shorts were beginning to dampen as well, but she complied, climbing off Blanc with a long kiss and settling herself in another chair. "Fine. Fine... you're right. I'm sorry." Blanc shuddered, his erection evident through his loose slacks, then sat up and reached for his Botany material.

Botany for hunters and huntresses involved many things; from identifying poisonous plants that could be used against grimm, to making remedies and anti-bacterial agents for injuries, to identifying which plants were good for food or could be used to supplement aura. The latter involved animals as well, and a bit of campfire cooking as part of Botany at Beacon was really survivalism for the times when hunter parties would spend long times out in the field. They needed to know how to setup camps, post lookouts, collect food and prepare it, all with possible grimm attacks in mind. In the field, a huntress always had to be prepared. They did this under the guise of studying Remnant's botany, simply by tradition. Everyone knew it was far more than just studying plants, and botany at Beacon did not include serious study of plants for scientific purposes. There were classes for such on campus, but they were upper-year classes and only for specialization. Not every hunter or huntress solely went on hunting missions. Many ended up living in communities outside the cities, defending them when necessary but also performing other work most of the time. It was a tradition formed before the advent of common air travel, but even so, the distances required to travel from the cities to some of the places humanity inhabited, in smaller towns and villages on the outskirts of civilization, and the frequency and speed of grimm attacks, required that hunters be close by to elliminate or at least hold back attacks until reinforcements could arrive, either from militia, kingdom militaries, or the hunters who stayed on running missions as a career. Usually only the best teams of a particular graduating class stayed together and became careerists; most hunters and huntresses either went solo out into the communities, or as pairs with their partners. Unsurprisingly, most that stayed as pairs were also in relationships.

While Blanc was studying, Yang's thoughts had drifted off. To her knowledge, her father had only had two relationships, one with her mother, and one with Ruby's... except that her dad said he'd never been with Summer, and she didn't really have a reason to think he was being dishonest, despite everything else. Thinking back, she can never remember more affection between them than kisses on the cheek and hugs. Summer had been affectionate with both of them, and she'd never felt slighted in the way that she knew Ruby sometimes felt about her dad, but Qrow had always shown a preference for Ruby. Yang had loved those times; it allowed her to soak up affection and time with her father without feeling guilty about taking it from Ruby, whom she loved dearly. Regardless of the reality of their situation, Ruby would always be her sister in her mind. But she wondered about her dad; why had he never found any other woman to love? She knew Qrow had dalliances; he didn't bring them by the house in patch but she'd heard about them while her dad and her uncle had been drinking together after Ruby and her were supposed to be in bed, asleep. Thinking about the women described, other than about how much of the description had to do with hair, tits, and asses, the common theme between them all was that they were all different, but none like Summer, and perhaps now she understood why. But she didn't understand why her father continued to remain lonely when it was obvious that her mother wasn't going to come back. Raven had quit them, supposedly taken up with another man, and yet her father sat at home, raising their child and his niece, and pined for her. She wasn't sure if that was romantic or pathetic. Maybe it was both.

"You okay there, babe?"

She turned her attention back from her thoughts, and put the unused 'Botany of Remnant' book back in her bag. "I was just thinking about my dad." At his queer look, she responded quickly. "Not like that, you pervert. I was thinking about how he's been alone all these years. He never dates. He never has hook-ups even. Why do you think he does that? I mean, I know he's an objectively attractive man and there are definitely women on Patch who are interested in him. He's polite but he doesn't respond."

"Well, you don't know that he doesn't now that you're gone, but... I think he's afraid." Yang looked at Blanc, confused. He'd expected a bit of anger but was glad she was hearing him out. "Raven really hurt him; I'm sure you understand that because while different, she really hurt you too. I think he's afraid to try again and risk it happening again."

"So you don't think he's waiting for my mom to come back?" He shook his head. "I think he knows she's not. I've only talked with him briefly but he doesn't seem like the type to let someone walk all over him like that and wait patiently for more abuse." She nodded; that sounded like her dad more than pathetic thoughts that he was waiting on a woman who'd made a family with him and then left him holding the bags while she went out and did whatever she wanted with whoever she wanted. "Do you... do you think I'm like her?"

"I don't know her. But I don't think you could do what she did. But... we do need to talk about this."

She was confused again. "What do you mean, my mom? My dad?"

"We need to talk about us. You don't really understand, but... I need to know you're going to be okay when I'm gone. I can't keep doing this, being with you and working my way into your heart when I know I'm just going to tear you apart. I need to know you won't be afraid like your dad." She got up and in his face. "You're not going anywhere. I'm not going to let you go. You aren't going to die."

"Yang." She grabbed him. "No. I don't want to talk about this like it's inevitable."

"It is. You have to understand that." She stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself, angry but wanting to make sure she didn't lash out at him like she had the last time. "No, you don't. Why do you keeping saying that?"

"This power I have? It's maddening. You don't really understand, I know. It wants to be where it's supposed to be; right now that's Amber but when she passes on it'll be Pyrrha. To leave me, I have to die."

"Well, you don't have to just give it what it wants." He sighed. "It's not really... I don't know how to explain this. Before I left, I had to use the fall maiden's power, a lot. Like, you would have thought I was a god I was using so much power a lot. It drove me mad. Literally. I spent a week ranting crazily and destroying things randomly with lightning and wind and rain and cold until finally I made it a deal."

"You... you made a deal with a magical power? Come on..." He stood up and took her hands, his book falling to the ground and closing from where he'd tried to keep his page. "I made it a bargain. It's not really... it's not like it's a separate entity but more like the collection of previous holders of the power have their memories and like, a kind of collective personality from them all, which sort of exist in it. I can't really explain it well. You can't talk to it, but it can kind of talk to you in your dreams. It can manipulate them, make them say things to you, and if it wants, it can make you dream while you're awake. I guess it's more smooth when it's with someone for whom it's intended. Ruby said so, anyway. It hated me; it was trying to drive me crazy and cause the other people to kill me so it could leave and go to the next recipient. I'm not sure who that is; we never knew. So, I made it a deal. Calm down, help me come back here, and I'll make sure it gets to the intended recipient in Pyrrha. The madness stopped, no more destroying things, and when I needed the power to come back far enough to reach the right time, it helped me do it. It won't do that again; if I use the power it's going to extract a toll I don't think I can pay and remain sane."

"But you've got it right now, and Pyrrha's right here. Well, nearby. Why aren't you dead if that's what it wants?"

"It's patient. So long as my intention is to hand the power over, it'll accept it and wait. But if I decide that hey, I'm going to go back on my word and stay with you and have a family? Yang, it'll destroy you and everything around me for kilometers and I'll go completely insane until someone kills me. Babe, I have to die. I've accepted it. I... I need to know you can accept it and move on, or we need to stop, right here and right now. I can't risk leaving you a broken shell of a person, afraid to love again, or waiting for me to return when you know I can't. I need to know you'll have a life beyond my death. I need your promise."

She grabbed her bag, marched toward the door, and heard him sigh as her hand took the knob. "I understand."

"No, you don't. You don't understand shit. Fuck you for this Blanc, but I'm not done with you and I'm not ready for you to die. You act like you've got some terminal disease but this isn't over yet. You didn't promise it you'd die, just that you'd get it to the rightful place. Well, how were they going to get the power to Pyrrha from Amber?" He honestly didn't know and hadn't thought about it. "I've... no idea."

"We're going to find out. See, you don't have to die. Maybe you just want to." She turned the knob, opened the door, and left. He watched her go, then closed the door behind her, going back to study. But while she was angry and hurt, he was happy for once. Like when she'd saved his life from suicide over what Salem had done to him, she'd given him hope. He felt the grumbling from the maiden's power, but she was right; he'd only ever promised to make sure it got to the intended recipient, not that he'd die doing it. He'd just assumed. He picked up his scroll and sent Yang a memo.

"Thanks for giving me hope. I love you." He got a heart icon back, but it was enough to know that things were going to be okay between them, and that perhaps for the first time in his life, he saw a future beyond saving the world.

* * *

I apologize for how long this took to get done. I struggled with a lot of it, had some writer's block, and even wrote another short fanfic to get some of that out. This fic needs to go certain places for the plot, but I've been trying to let the characters just be themselves and let time flow without me pushing them. Unfortunately, I need to get past the end of the semester for the next big plot section to occur, which will be over their winter break and outside Beacon, at Patch, The Arc family home, and at Pyrrha's family in Mistral. A lot of that will be fluff but not all of it.

The next chapter should have the combat class semester finals. I'm mostly stuck trying to think up characters for the two teams I created to fight RWBY and JNPR. I've got most of what will happen between Blanc and CFVY, so the next chapter should be full of action.

Finally, if you're one of those people who doesn't like pathos, this fic won't be for you. It's right up in the description; yeah, it's angsty. The lead is an OC who's been abused in about every way possible, who has the responsibility for saving all of humanity placed on his shoulders, and has grown up with the idea that fulfilling his role in life means dying at the right place and time. If you'd be happy under those circumstances, you need to be committed. Poor Blanc; he gets a shitty fictional life just so I can save a fictional Pyrrha. I'm such an asshole.


	35. Chapter 35

**Blanc's room, the day of semester finals in Combat Class**

Blanc slipped on his repaired coat, not having had time to make a new one yet. Methodically he began to prepare for his semester final exam in combat class. He slipped his Tonfa, using the set that did not have engraved glyphs that he used for training, into the holsters in his coat, then picked up his bag which contained a few extra trinkets he'd prepared for dealing with Coco and Velvet.

Fox and Yatsuhashi were standard melee fighters. Fox was known to have good aura control, and used it for navigation as well as combat. It'd be a requirement given his blinded state. Unfortunately for him, Blanc would be blinding that too. Yatsuhashi was strong and wielded a large sword. He was extremely effective against larger grimm but would be slow and easy to overwhelm. Coco and Velvet were not.

Coco's weapon was known to be a collapsible minigun. How she stored that inside a handbag shaped container was unknown, but the density should have made her unable to carry it. He suspected that it somehow relied upon her semblance, whatever that might be. Velvet mostly fought with her hands and feet, making her the most dangerous of her team, to Blanc anyway. He'd never seen or heard of her using a weapon, but she carried a backpack of some sort, and took pictures of people in the use of their weapons, and he had a suspicion. Coco was the only one of the four he'd met in the future; none of the others had survived. It wasn't a story he was familiar with. Coco'd had a daughter that was at the fortress in that final battle, but he didn't know anything more, and was certain she'd perished with the rest of humanity there.

Team RWBY's battle had gone well, though in the end they'd lost as expected. Yang had been the last holdout, smashing her way through two of the three remaining in team SNRS before finally running too low on Aura. She'd relied on her semblance, too much perhaps, and while that made her a devastating combatant, it required her to take blows. Ruby had hung back, trying to use Cresent Rose's sniper form, but the other team had been prepared. Blake and Weiss had removed the first opponent while working together, using a combination of a shadow clone and an ice dust blast from Weiss rapier, but both had then quickly been removed as well, while Ruby fell as Yang took out the first of her two, who had just knocked Blake out of combat. In the end while the girls had worked well together, the other team had planned well and knew more about RWBY than RWBY knew about them, and it showed.

JNPR's bout had been decidedly different. From the outset, team AZRE had been wary of Pyrrha, and it showed. That let JNPR control the battlefield, as small as it was, and Jaune had planned around that and taken advantage of it, separating the opposing team and allowing Ren and Nora to work them together while he and Pyrrha kept their teammates away. The last member of AZRE had simply yeilded, alone and facing four opponents, one of which was perhaps the greatest fighter to come through Beacon, perhaps ever.

But with all that, there was too much hype around his own bout. Beacon, or more precisely Gramma Goodwitch, had far too much confidence in his abilities, particularly knowing he wouldn't utilize his time semblance. Testing the others teamwork he could understand, but he was going to be facing a second year team, all alone. That team would be geared up, and unlike the third year bullies he'd bested in the courtyard outside the dining hall at the beginning of the semester, they would be prepared for him. They were the best team in second year, they'd be fresh, and so he'd had to come out with something new if he wanted to make it anything but a short bout.

Part of him recognized this as an opportunity to slip back into the shadows; lose some of that attention that came to him after his fitness test. Another part of him, the Schnee part he sneered at, couldn't accept allowing an easy defeat for that purpose. The Arc part of him could accept it, but not without giving it his best. The problem was he knew he could win; with his semblance there was likely no one here who could stop him, particularly if it was a surprise. He could be tired out and worn down, his father's genetic gift of a fantastically large aura pool and his mother's gift of glyphs, and his combat trained adrenal gland were still limited. But no four people would be able to do that. Team JNPR eventually might; his father outmatched him in Aura and Pyrrha was, without a doubt, the prodigy of warfare people believed her to be. And all of that would pale compared to the stolen power, which even above his true semblance must remain a secret. Only Yang and the maiden's guardians knew that secret about him, and it would stay that way until Pyrrha was introduced to it, which he hoped would not be by him. That time was coming, he knew.

He slipped out of his room, quietly, and headed toward arena. They'd had to hold this in a bigger space due to all of the spectators; an arrangement they'd made for JNPR's bout as well. Pyrrha hadn't been comfortable with the fame but Jaune had soothed her and kept her spirits up. He didn't want to think about how that'd been done or the promise that had been whispered in her ear while they accepted the accolades of the observers, nor the blush it put on her face. He'd congratulated Yang in his own way, though he'd taken much more time reciprocating on her than she had when she'd performed on him before class. He'd aced his history exam, in no small part because of her help, and he wanted to thank her. He also wanted to relieve their mutual frustration, and it had gone a long way to patching things up between them after she'd left that night following their fight. He was feeling hopeful, and he shared that joy with her. His neighbors weren't very pleased with the scream - he guessed Yang had learned to control that later in life, but she was quiet vocal now.

The walk to the new arena was longer than to normal class; the air was quite cool for Vale, which was equatorial and stayed warm most of the year. Atlas would be a frigid wasteland right now. As he walked, more and more students were headed in his direction; far more than had been there to see JNPR. Pats on the back, encouraging words, some snide remarks, and someone he didn't see slyly grabbing his ass later, he made it to his entrance.

 **Beacon Arena, center of the stands, shortly before the bout**

Yang was nervous; Blanc was powerful and a great fighter, and undoubtedly hers, but this bout was also extremely unfair. They'd all been unfair, to be honest, but this one so much more so. Other than JNPR she'd missed the other bouts, spending time preparing for their own. They'd had a good plan but it had fallen apart when the opposition improvised around it, and she'd got her fight on, but it hadn't been enough. In single combat there wasn't anyone on team SNRS who she wouldn't have beaten, but she knew her team still had work to do. They mostly worked well in pairs; Ruby's plans all seemed to be about that. They were good tactics, but that's all they were. She simply didn't have Jaune's strategic mind. Which was also something Blanc had inherited from his father, according to Ren. That gave her hope about the upcoming fight, but not much, particularly because she knew her man would be handicapping himself.

Blake sat to her left, Ruby on her right, and Weiss next to her. JNPR sat behind them; Pyrrha directly behind. Yang thought Pyrrha'd find it nice to be a spectator at something like this rather than the subject. Pyrrha's emotions seemed to always be on her sleeves these days, now that she was with Jaune. Jaune was calm and joking with his team, but Pyrrha was practically chewing her nails.

"What's up, P-money? You look like you're about to watch your first child out there instead of your friend." Ruby elbowed her, Pyrrha glared a bit, and Blake and Weiss just looked a bit confused at the analogy. "I'm fine. I just think it's terrible unfair." Nora patted her on the back. "Don't worry, Mr. Impossible is on the case. He's gonna take them down!" Jaune grinned, and Ren smirked a bit at her enthusiasm. "He'll be fine, Pyrrha." Jaune assured her.

CFVY came out into the arena, setting up. No last minute planning or pep-talks occurred; Coco was at the back of a diamond, Fox in front of her. Between them, Yatsuhashi and Velvet were on the left and right, respectively. Coco already had her minigun out, barrels slowly spinning, while Yatsuhashi kept is massive blade on his back. Fox and Velvet were both relaxed. Then, Blanc stepped out onto the field.

It was almost like a movie opening; he walked up confidently, the sun at his back, his coat occasionally swirling back in the wind. He was carrying a bag, which he dropped at his feat as he stepped up to his place, opposite fox, then drew each tonfa, reaching across his body, and swinging them up along his arms, mirroring Fox who'd settled into a ready stance. Now, Yang's feeling mirrored Pyrrha's, and she found herself actually biting a nail.

Down on the floor of the arena, Blanc was setting his plan. They'd deployed as he expected. Coco was their only ranged fighter, so they put her at the back and protection for her from the faunus and the big guy. Fox would be their aggressor. On his belt lay two of the devices he'd created for this fight; the rest were in the bag. He stretched out his aura, sensing Fox's as expected. This was how he overcame his blindness; he used his aura like a kind of sonar, sensing changes in objects moving inside it. Unfortunately for him, it was something that Blanc had mastered as well, and worse, Blanc could force Fox's aura away, which would blind him.

Yatsu would have to intervene or they'd lose Fox, and that would let him put something between Coco's minigun and himself. He expected Velvet to hang back and defend their gunner and team leader, but if she attacked he'd just use her as more cover. Blanc had Jaune's strategic mind as well as his aura, but had more training to refine it tactically.

"Begin!" came the shout over the loud speakers, and Fox charged forward. Blanc flooded the area of his arena with his own aura, pushing Fox's away, who then stumbled and stopped, confused and searching. Blanc closed his eyes, searching with his own aura and picking out where Yatsu and Velvet were as he heard the minigun spin up in the background.

His acceleration glyph flared in his mind, and everything slowed as his mind sped up. He stepped into Fox's space, quietly and below the noise of the now firing gun, using Fox as a shield, then threw the two discs on his waist out, past Yatsu and Velvet. Their glyphs, brown and simplistic, flashed and then large mounds of earth punched up through the arena floor between the minigun and him, cutting Coco off by use of earth dust.

Earth dust was relatively worthless. It was mostly used in construction and mining, but only good for manipulating large amounts of dirt in vague ways. You could excavate with it, which was it's usual use, or when constructing roads or bridges and dams you could move large piles of earth into position. The dirt was never very stable, so you had to do something with it relatively quickly or it would fall back down into mounds. But Blanc didn't need it to last; he only needed it to block the minigun while he took out the close-range fighters.

He worked over Fox quickly. A couple of tonfa-point gut-punches and an upward slash with the back of his right tonfa were enough to take his aura well into the red and out of the fight. Yatsuhashi responded with a leaping smash, his giant sword breaking up the arena floor where Blanc had stood, but by then Blanc had accelerated forward; his limbs using acceleration glyphs and closed in on Velvet. She was using her aura like as shield to block his strikes, quiet effectively though it was chipping away at her supply, when Yatsuhashi responded with a hard horizontal slash that Blanc felt with his aura.

Blanc dropped his left Tonfa, grabbed Velvet, and dropped back onto the floor, pulling her into Yatsuhashi's blow and dropping her aura enough to also disqualify her from continuing. Blanc easily rolled away from Yatsu's vertical slash, smashing into the ground but not with the power his leaping blow had, and Blanc was on his feet, tonfa back in his hand and rapid punching blows knocking the asian man's aura down steadily. Yatsu was just too slow; Blanc dodged every strike, never taking a hit, and responded with two or three hits like rabbit punches, but feeling more like jackhammer blows thanks to his glyph-accelerated strikes. He finished off the giant man when Yatsuhashi made another horizontal swing. Leaping up over the blade, he'd kicked forward into the man's jaw, knocking him down and reducing his aura enough to put him out of the fight.

By the time the earth walls fell enough to let Coco see the rest of the battlefield again, she stood alone against Blanc and understood why they called him Mr. Unstoppable. He was already darting across the floor at her as the mounds fell. She had the gun in position, firing, but he slid down along the ground, accelerating forward with glyphs. As she brought the gun down to hit him, he hit the mounds, slightly to the left of center, and flew up into the air as if he'd leapt from them, coming down with a twist so he was facing his opponent. It was over a few seconds later; she couldn't bring the gun to bare on him. He was inside her guard, and as the gun swung round to meet him, already striking her and blocking the barrels. She tried to shrink the gun back into her handbag but her aura was already too low by the time it finished.

The crowd was stunned, and deadly quiet. They'd expected a show, but this had been a massacre. The time on the clock hadn't reached a minute, and all four of the more experienced hunter trainees were defeated, without a single blow to Blanc's aura. Blanc slid his tonfa into his coat and reached out his hand, shaking Coco's, and she felt a jolt of familiarity with someone she'd really never met. "Do I know you from somewhere else?"

He smiled at her, a bit more of a smirk to be fair, and responded. "Maybe in another life. Good fight." She looked up at the scoreboard as her teammates joined her. "Hardly. You smashed through us like we weren't there." He scratched the back of his head, looking down. "I came prepared - brought a couple of toys." Fox looked angry. "You... you blinded me somehow."

Blanc looked sheepish, though Fox likely couldn't see it. "Yeah, sorry. I know how you see and I know how to stop it." That didn't seem to settle the man, but Yatsu put a hand on his shoulder. "Be calm, my friend. He bested us in an unfair fight with the weight of numbers stacked against him."

"How about he take me on without blinding me."

Yatsu looked ready to take offense at his friend, but Blanc readily accepted. "Sure, I wouldn't mind a friendly rematch. I'll even promise to not flood the arena with my own aura." It was enough to settle the man down. Velvet snapped a picture of him. The crowd opened up with screams and applause, and it was announced that Blanc was the victor.

Unfortunately for him, that is when he noticed the cameras, the video announcers, and the news crews. "Shit." As the reporters streamed out onto the field, he ran, yelling back at them an apology. He grabbed his bag, ran into the locker rooms, and disappeared.

Yang felt a hand on her shoulder. "I think you better go see him, don't you?" She looked up at Jaune and smiled, getting up and leaving to find her lover. The stadium started to empty, slowly, but no one tried to follow her into the locker rooms. Blanc, however wasn't there. She had no idea how he got out, but when she called him on his scroll, he was almost to his room.

"Hey, you slipped out pretty fast."

"Yeah, I kind of went through the wall and ran here. Want to come over? I'll be heading out with Jaune and Pyrrha tomorrow. I'd like to see you before we go." He was grinning.

"Are you sure you don't want to give any interviews? I bet you could even get to see Lisa Lavender!" She needled him. "Ah shit, I should have just thrown the match. My stupid fucking Schnee pride is going to be the end of us all." It'd been the wrong thing to say.

"Come on babe, it'll be okay. I'll be right over."

As it turned out, she wasn't. First she was stopped by her teammates, then JNPR, and then outside the arena, lots of disappointed 'Mr. Unstoppable' fans who'd hopped to see their new hero, many of whom were classmates and knew she was his girlfriend. In the end, it was Fox who helped her out, intimidating a path for her with his stare alone. "Um, thanks!"

"Just tell that man of yours that next time, he won't be so lucky." She didn't know how to respond, so she waved and left. Remarkably, he waved back, though she didn't see it.

 **JNPR Dorm, after Blanc's semester final**

Jaune was helping Pyrrha with closing her luggage, having already packed for his trip. They'd be going to his home first, so he was packing lighter than she, but in truth she also had a lot of other things he just didn't need. That meant more bags, and stuffing them more. Jaune was surprised at how much she'd accumulated.

They were both taking their armor. Blanc would be joining them, and Jaune wanted to show it off. He couldn't explain Blanc's relationship, of course, but like any father, he had pride in the work of his children, and Blanc had made these for Pyrrha and him specifically. They were, beyond being functional, works of art, and the glyphs were created by hand. Because of their size, both would be wearing them on the trip. They'd chartered a bullhead rather than taking commercial passage, both because the town where Jaune's family resided wasn't on too many commercial routes and because they needed the extra room for their armor and bags. Pyrrha was taking some things back to Mistral for a traditional solstice festival, as gifts, and Jaune would be picking some up at home. Unfortunately, Blanc would be leaving them and going to Patch to spend the rest of his break with Yang and her family.

Both Pyrrha and Jaune were out of sorts; Pyrrha was nervous about meeting Jaune's family, especially because all of his sisters would be there, and some of their children, and apparently she was the only girl Jaune had ever brought to meet them. Jaune was equally nervous, as well as excited. He couldn't wait to introduce them, though the idea of what his sisters might put them through was a bit unnerving.

Though they'd been invited, Nora and Ren had decided to stay at Beacon over the break, more for the time alone than anything else. Both couples had been intimate, and trying to schedule that sort of thing had been painfully awkward. Jaune's memory of coming back and finding Nora pinned against a wall while Ren was wrapped around her from behind had seared into both his and Pyrrha's memories, though his lover laughed at it. And that time when Nora had walked in while Pyrrha rode him, and begun to cheer them on and offer tips was mortifying. Thankfully Ren had pulled her out of the room, but it had also killed the mood, though the couple laughed about it now.

Pyrrha seemed to fret about nervously; picking something up, then setting it down and picking up something else. "Pyrrha, it's going to be okay. They'll love you!"

"How can you possibly know that?!" she replied, snapping at him. It hurt him a bit, but he stepped to her and took her into his arms. "Because I love you." She smiled at him, and then kissed him, taking comfort from his arms and his expression of love.

 **Blanc's Room**

She pushed him against the door, turning him toward her just as he shut it behind her. No words were spoken before she claimed his mouth. His hands slipped into her voluminous hair, pulling her in and welcoming her, as her hands slid down his arms to his chest, then to his abdomen, around to his back and then his ass, pulling his groin into her own.

He pushed back against her, reaching down from her hair to her ass and lifting her so that she could wrap her legs around him, grinding upon his hardened member. The two hunters shuddered with the feel of it, and Blanc wasted no time, walking her back into his bedroom and throwing her down onto the mattress. She laughed, sitting back up and reaching for him. She grabbed his belt, pulling him to the bed, and began to unbuckle it. "Not going to stop me?"

He smiled at her, taking her hands away from the buckle, and then undoing it himself. "Not tonight. Tonight, I'm yours."

* * *

This took me a while to get done, and in the end I had to give up on trying to do the fights for RWBY and JNPR. I hope you're not disappointed, but those are the breaks.

I considered writing out the rest of the sex scene here; even planned it out. A bit of it, a hint so to speak, works well with this story I think, but I don't want to be explicit and just turn this into smut. I enjoy smut as well as any other person, and I write it decently I'm told, but I don't want that for this story. I reserve the right to change my mind.

The next arc begins in the next chapter, and there I'll have a lot more freedom, and I'll have a lot more ways to do it wrong. I've hinted at some things in previous chapters and not really dealt with them. I'm not sure if I'll deal with them here, but I have to at some point, soon, or the story gets a bit absurd.


	36. Chapter 36

**Mantle Wilderness Training zone, 1 year prior to ritual**

Blanc was cold, despite the heavy snow gear he was wearing. He'd been in this miserable place since being dropped in it for survival training three days prior. He continued to pack the snow into a shelter of sorts. Fire was out of the question; even if he could get it lit and found enough fuel, and he supposed he could, it would attract the nearby grimm. He had weapons, but the fire would continue to attract them until their number grew too large for him to fend off without tiring, and then he'd be dead.

He'd actually used a campfire as a trick to clear the area of most of the nearby grimm earlier; they were attracted to the light and smoke, something normal animals wouldn't be, probably because it often signaled humans. It was another reminder that the things may look animalistic, but they were not. He'd brought some explosives with him, and when the small depression he'd set the fire into had enough grimm, he'd detonated them, killing most of the grimm and leaving the area relatively safe. It was an old hunter's trick he'd been taught; though they often simply used it to setup an ambush before camping down.

If there'd been more than just him, they'd set a watch and use a fire, but right now he couldn't afford to risk drawing grimm from further away. He'd used up his explosives and the cold and the trek had him exhausted, and sunset was less than an hour away. He worked steadily, packing snow into walls and a sort of roof; it was more hole in the snow than any sort of building, like a small cave. What was important about it is that it would help him preserve body heat, over the nighttime, despite being made of ice. It would still be warmer than the surrounding air once the sun went down.

Finally completing his work, he nestled down inside thermal protective blankets. This training was entirely pointless; for his mission he never expected he'd need to camp at all, but in an extremely cold environment, all by himself? And stocked up before he left? The mission was simple; they drop him out here and he had to make his own way back, by whatever means necessary. He understood it as a right of passage in the Atlesian military, something he hadn't been given a choice about joining after his ... Aunt didn't seem appropriate anymore. After Yang had brought him back, and then brought him out of his suicidal depression, he'd been given little choice but to join, train, and prepare. He'd known it already, but they'd made it quite clear. Humanity was fighting a losing war against an implacable enemy. Vale, Vacuo, Mistral... all were already completely destroyed. None of the smaller settlements they found, including mining towns or other usually well defended areas existed anymore either, except here in Mantle. No one had hear from anyone in Menagerie in almost a decade, and it was too far at this point to check. The White Fang had been destroyed as a collective group early in the war with internal strife, and when Vacuo fell, most of the faunus simply disappeared. As far as Blanc knew, there were none anywhere on Mantle anymore, which likely meant there weren't anymore at all.

The sun dipped below the horizon, and Blanc sealed up the whole in his shelter. There was a small hole in the very top as well, intended to allow him to start a fire inside if necessary, and let the smoke out, as well as let air in, but he'd brought no fuel with him, and the smoke would still attract grimm even without seeing the fire. He fell asleep shortly afterward, setting a timer on his scroll to quietly wake him when the sun was supposed to rise again. His thermal blankets and sleeping bag warmed up quickly and his body snuggled into the warmth.

* * *

Something was tightening around his hips, pushing his legs together. Maybe he'd gotten a blanket wrapped up too night or was tangled up in the sleeping bag. He felt cool air across the top of him, his chest and groin cooling quickly, then a warm and wet sensation as if he'd lost control of his bladder. He opened his eyes to a yellow curtain as the room began to heat. He was in his room, on his bed, and Yang was straddling him, lowering herself over his morning wood.

"Morning lover. Hope you don't mind me helping myself." He could hardly reply, still groggy from his dream and waking up to Yang using him like a dildo. Her golden mane seemed as though it was on fire in the morning sun shining through his window with the dawn, and the whole event had a dream-like state to it that made him confused as to if this was real or dream.

She leaned down and kissed him, her breasts rubbing against his chest as she thrust down onto him in a slow rhythm, grinding her pelvis against his pubic bone. She made a sort of purring noise then began to suckle on his neck, giving small nips to his shoulder as she continued to ride. His body responded automatically, hands reaching up to caress the outside of her thighs and then grip her hips as he began to join her in their dance. It didn't take much longer for her to reach her release, taking him with her.

He looked up into her radiant smile sleepily, his eyes beginning to close again. "We've got all morning. Go ahead and go back to sleep. I'm gonna get a shower." He nodded off with the sound of water starting in his bathroom.

* * *

 **Team JNPR Dorm room, Early morning**

Jaune woke from a tickling sensation in his nose. Pyrrha's hair had been sucked up into his nostrils. It was an irritating way to wake up, but Pyrrha was a heavy sleeper, and if he told her about it he was afraid she'd stop sleeping in his bed. She'd been sleeping there for weeks now, using his shoulder as her pillow as she slept against his body, snuggled down and drooling a bit on his bare chest.

The sun hadn't yet peaked over the horizon, but the sky had begun to lighten enough that Jaune could easily take in her features; the flow of her long red hair, the feel of her warm busom against his chest through her sports bra, the heat she generated that caused them to kick off the covers in the middle of the night.

Pyrrha slept in exercize-wear typically. Jaune suspected it'd started because Pyrrha liked to get up with a morning run and some calisthenics, something he'd taken up himself once they'd become a couple, but she was not a morning person by nature and woke up groggy. She'd "Go Ugly Early" and just go do her exercises in the workout clothes she put on the night before. He still found her incredibly sexy in them, even if it was something she wasn't shy about letting anyone else see. Jaune typically went to sleep in light sleep pants. He'd packed up the onesie and sent it home after the ridicule it earned him, and Pyrrha had bought him some silk pajamas, ostensibly as a gift to celebrate their partnership. Only later did she tell him she found the idea of something she gave him, touching him at night like that, incredibly sexy. He'd stopped using the top once they'd begun sleeping together, because she drooled a bit, which he found cute, and because she liked to feel his bare chest. He'd also woken up to her sucking and nipping at his nipples before. They didn't have much sensitivity, but she liked to make them peak when she'd get aroused at night and wanted to wake him up to 'play'. After that time where he'd pushed a bit more than she was comfortable with, and ended up taking a walk that had almost cost him his life, he'd been much more passive about initiating their liaisons, allowing her to set the pace and tone, and never pushing past where she'd already pushed.

And she'd pushed pretty far. Mistal had certain customs with regard to women and sex before marriage, which coming from a more Valian influenced area, Jaune hadn't known. Pyrrha wanted to keep with the traditions of her parents, and be a virgin bride, and he respected that. At the same time, Mistalians were passionate by nature and more generally open, sexually, to certain practices. Jaune would have never thought Pyrrha would initiate sex in that sort of way, let alone enjoy it so much, but evidently it was common to do for couples there who weren't married yet, but were still holding to the 'traditions' of their ancestors. After Ren and Nora had walked in on them, neither had seemed surprised about the actual act, but they were all careful not to say anything about it around anyone else, particularly Yang would would likely never stop with puns regarding butts.

Vale was, overall, fairly liberal about it's society's sexual norms, taking the attitude of staying out of anything that people considered consensual, but Jaune new that his parents wouldn't feel quite the same, being in a more rural area, and not having easy access to inexpensive birth control, for example. His sister Ambre had taken up the medical profession entirely because of the lack of a local doctor after the last had passed on from age. She was the only medical practitioner in their area, and while they were large enough for her to maintain a clinic, she still regularly had to make housecalls because of the distance between homesteads and the small town near where his parent's lived. It seemed odd to people from the city, but rural areas were full of large families, or at least, families that had been large. The rigors of living away from easy access to medicine, outside protective walls and stuctured standing armies to fight the grimm, generally lead to a higher mortality rate than within the walls of the four kingdoms, so by necessity most families had more children.

It didn't help that the Arc Matriarch, his mother, had such a high libido. She'd trained at Beacon herself, meeting his father afterward and settling down there to help him run the family farm, occasionally working as a huntress for the local area. She hadn't talked about it much, steering him away from the work despite two of his sister's going to Beacon as well. "You're my only son, Jaune. Please, I don't think I could bear to lose you!" His father hadn't been much help, having seen his oldest two daughters go off to follow in the steps of their mother, it was his preference to keep the rest of his children at home. Indeed, four of his sisters did just that, though two were too young to make the choice to stay or go. They were all supposed to be home for this solstice, and he was looking forward to introducing the woman he planned to marry.

He was also extremely nervous, now quietly playing with his lover's hair while she slept. His parents hadn't forbidden him to go; indeed they could not, both by law and by custom. Choosing to become a hunter or a huntress was something that no one was allowed to deny for another unless they didn't qualify, such was the need for the aura empowered warriors. However strong the militia or standing army, grimm were exceptionally dangerous, and realistically only other hunters and huntresses were capable of being countering the threat, particularly outside the kingdoms. Sure, the armies of the kingdoms could slaughter grimm wholesale, but they couldn't be in enough places at once with enough firepower. Local militias could hold fortresses or even farm communities for a while, but eventually their ammunition and their exhaustion would fail them. They would fight holding actions until relief could arrive, usually in the form of a huntress or a few.

Still, his parents had all but forbidden him to go; denying him combat school or training, doing everything to keep him from his dream. "It's that foolish grandfather of yours, telling you about your great granddad." His father, was of course, more sensible. His great grandfather had retired to start the Arc farm after the color wars, bringing Crocea Mors as the only reminder of his past, and started a new family to replace the one he'd lost, and taking up the last name of Arc, which hadn't existed before then. He'd told his son about the battles before, fighting the grimm and the other kingdoms, about the end of the war, and the decision to step away and become a simple farmer after partaking in all that slaughter, and not wanting the duties the station they'd tried to thrust upon him. And his grandfather had passed those stories on to his son, and then his grandson when more stoic and sensible son had refused to 'fill Jaune's head with that nonsense'. But ultimately, it was his mother who drove Jaune's dream of protecting people.

When he'd been young, they'd been out in the fields playing, he and his two older sisters Verte and Noisette. They'd been having a great time, the sun was high in a cloudless sky, when everything turned quiet, and there had been a gigantic black beast, covered in white spines and with horrid glowing red eyes. They'd cringed back, Noisette putting the two younger children behind her, prepared to sacrifice herself for their temporary safety, when his mother had seemingly flown across the field to lop the monster's head from it's shoulders in one underhanded swing, landing nearby and returning to gather her children up into a worried and overwrought hug. His sister's had picked up her fear and it had driving any thought of fighting those monsters for a living from their minds, but little Jaune had seen his heroic mother save them, seemingly without effort, like a blonde angel, and his course had been set.

Pyrrha's groggy voice whispered to him, her green eyes first looking over to their snoring roommates (Ren was remarkably loud compared to Nora's soft coos). "Still nervous about seeing your parents again?" He smiled at her, saying nothing, but stroking her scalp and hair more thoroughly. Pyrrha loved to have him play with her hair, and he found doing so to be calming and soothing as well, which had led to him routinely brushing her hair out at night. And washing it for her in the shower, if the truth be told. She sat up, straddling him. "Hmmm... seems a certain part of you is awake as well." She rubbed herself across his morning erection, exciting them both.

"Pyr, Ren and Nora are right there!" he whisper-shouted to her, not that it stopped her in any way. "I'm not sure how we'll be able to find time for each other, this way, while we're at your parents', with Blanc sleeping in the same room." Pyrrha may have wanted to remain a virgin until she married, but like most huntresses, her libido was quite high, especially now that she had a willing partner to whom she was very attracted. Pyrrha didn't take the time to disrobe, simply pulling the covers back up over their lower halves, then pulling Jaune free from his loose silk pajama bottoms. Pushing her own shorts aside, she began to rub him against her lower lips, lubricating him in preparation for what she planned.

Jaune thought to object, but didn't. What resulted was a slow, luxuriant expression of their love, less about passion and more about their mutual adoration. Despite the slow pace, they were finished in a few minutes, their roommates snores indicating they were none the wiser. Pyrrha then got up. "Where are you going?"

"It's time for our morning run. Hurry up and get changed so we can go." Jaune looked at her. "You're not going to clean up first?"

She smiled at him and said nothing, enjoying the sensation of his release still within her. "If you hurry, maybe we can have a repeat of this out by the Emerald forest!"

He did not dally.

* * *

 **Vale Airport, that afternoon**

Ren and Nora had gone into Vale with their teammates to see them off. All of team RWBY was going to Patch for the break, though Weiss and Blake had been relunctant. Blanc would be joining Jaune at his home until he and Pyrrha went off to Mistral to visit her family for the remainder of the break, at which point he'd leave for Patch. Ren and Nora had been invited by both groups, but declined in favor of having time to themselves. Whenever the topic came up, Ren would blush, and Nora would simply say "I just need some Ren time. WINK WINK NUDGE NUDGE knowwhatimean?" in a very exaggerated manner.

Patch had regularly scheduled flights, being relatively safe and decently populated, but Jaune's farming community of Bastion required chartering a flight. It'd been an expensive proposition for the family Arc, but for Pyrrha Nikos and her endorsement contracts in the millions of Lien, relatively little. Jaune and Pyrrha were wearing their combat armor, which got them some teasing until they explained that they'd wanted to show it off to their parents but it weighed too much to pack, leaving Blanc blushing. Indeed, other than Weiss the rest of the travelers were all in what they'd normally wear to fights, but without their weapons. Blank had his repaired coat on, though the stitching would not hold if he tried to glide with it, and had his normal tonfa with him as well. "We are going to be outside the safe area around Vale."

Yang snickered, patted his shoulder. "You know I love you, but you're kinda a downer." He replied with an exaggerated scowl, playfully before hugging her. "I'm gonna miss you, but it won't be that long. A couple of weeks, that's all." The two groups departed, Ren and Nora heading back to the Sky Ferry to Beacon, Yang and the rest to their flight, and Jaune with Pyrrha and Blanc to the tarmac. Upon seeing the bullhead, Jaune immediately began to turn green. "Jaune? Are you..." Pyrrha's concern was not misplaced; he'd told her about his airsickness problems.

Blanc slapped a pill into his hand, and offered a canteen. "This will help." Jaune took the pill without question, swallowing it with some water from the canteer, then began to brighten up. "You make pills for airsickness too?"

Blanc grinned. "No, I bought some at the store inside the lounge." He rattled a clear bottle with what looked like orange oblong pills in it. Jaune smiled, chuckled a bit, then picked up Pyrrha and his luggage to put in the bullhead. Pyrrha, suspicious, leaned over to him. "I do not believe they sell any medication in that store."

Blanc barked out a quick laugh. "No, they're breath mints, but the airsickness is in his head. Trust me, this'll help." She smiled, swatted him on the shoulder, and went to join her man. Blanc followed behind, a rucksack on his back.

None of them noticed the man who'd been fueling the aircraft, chuckling a bid madly to himself, his long braid swaying as he walked away, nor did they see the corpse of the worker that man had killed to take his place.

* * *

I've got another portion I could have added to the story ready, but decided to cut the chapter here as it's a good place to break. Yeah, this chapter was a bit smuttier than usual, though I tried not to get too explicit. In my mind, the winter solstice break (Christmas break for most of us) is about four to five weeks long (frankly, however long I need it to be for the story. Sorry.) so Yang in particular, who's been waiting some time, is going to want to be as close as possible.

It also might appear that I'm solving the 'maiden virginity issue' with 'god's loophole', so to speak, but Pyrrha, being based on Achilles, has a sort of Greek origin, and there is that association, fair or not. It's also a practice some women will do before marriage in order to maintain their 'technical virginity'.

I have a suspicion that Remnant is Earth after some calamity, which shattered the moon and massively changed the way the continents look and life on the planet. Will probably never happen in the series, but in my imagination Remnant is earth in the far future, faunus were originally genetically engineered, etc. I've no explanation for Grimm or Dust really.

I expect the action to pick up in the next chapter. If that's what you're looking for, I hope you'll be pleased.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chartered Bullhead Flight, East of Vale in Transit to Bastion Farming Community**

Blanc had spent the first hour of the flight talking with Jaune and Pyrrha, until they inevitably fell into the talking like the lovers they were and he disappeared from their conscious thoughts. He slipped up front to talk with the pilot, a middle-aged brunette woman named 'Chambers', based on her flight suit. She'd been relatively friendly once he'd told her he was trying to give the person who chartered the flight time with her boyfriend alone, and the conversation had been light.

"Yeah, flying for the Valesian airforce was great up until the budget cuts. With Atlas, they just don't need the kind of force they used to have, and my baby here was pretty cheap. Mostly charter out to hunter parties, ya know? Not a lot of private flights like this." He smiled at her. "You usually go up this high?"

"Well, these passenger flights, rare as they are, are easy if you fly above the grimm. Nevermore and gryphon flocks don't get up this high because of the thin air. We have to keep the pressure doors sealed, of course,and it uses more fuel, but for a passenger trip, not a big deal. Mostly do this stuff for SDC and other corporate mid-level managers heading out to outlying communities. In fact, I was able to cut the fair because I am picking up some folks from a multi-kingdom bakery buying grain out there in Bastion. Flown the trip a few times; it's a cake trip. Easy money... no offense." Blanc waived her off. "No worries here; we just don't have the time for a longer trip. You coming back to take them onto Mistral?"

She laughed. "Really? She doing the 'meet my future spouse' tour?" When Blanc didn't laugh, she gulped. "Oh. Really? I mean, he seems like a nice guy but... that's Pyrrha Nikos." He grinned. "I think it's because he doesn't treat her like she's THE Pyrrha Nikos. And, I don't know. They're seeing his parents first so..." She nodded back, eyes on her instruments while she talked to him. "Takes all kinds I guess. Got my own sweet lady waiting back home." Blanc gave her a polite smile and she continued. "Anyway, no. I'm on contract for the SDC to take some VIP from there to Patch."

Blanc barked out a laugh, which confused the brown haired pilot. "Guess you're my ride back then instead. I'm Blanc." Her eyes lit up in recognition. "Ah, so you're the precious cargo?" She gave him a once over. "I gotta say, if I was straight I could see it. Mind if I ask which daughter you're hooking up with?" He looked at her strangely but didn't respond. "Hey, I don't mean to offend but it's not the first time one or the other of ol' man Schnee's daughters have flown in a boyfriend. Hell, Winter used to fly in fuck buddies on a weekly basis. Now there's a woman."

"Actually, I'm not with either of them. I do project development in my spare time at Beacon for them; pays my room and board." She looked away from her instrument panel, eyes in shock. "Really? Well, damn. Sorry about that. If it helps, you look as good as any of their other men so... anyway, sorry." Again, he waived her off. "No offense taken. So, Winter and Weiss call out for their dick?" The pilot grinned, happy to gossip. "Winter especially. And not just dick. She's got good taste, I'll give her that, but she's insatiable. The other one, Weiss? She's picky and she wants them to be discrete. She doesn't do it as often, either, from what I understand."

A red warning light flashed on, blinking on her panel, catching the pilot's attention. Blanc, who knew how to fly a bullhead like this, understood what it was, but was surprised when the light went back out. "Weird. You got a short in your panel?"

She looked over at him briefly then back to the panel, checking her other indicators. "Maybe. Fuel warning doesn't usually pop on like that, and not just for one engine either. Tell you want, go back there and break up the love birds, and get into that back locker and pull out those packs. Strap 'em on and then bring me one too. Just... just as a precaution." Blanc didn't hesitate; fortunately the two lovers were fully clothed, though they did pull back from each other quickly.

"Come on. Something's wrong. Put these on." He opened the locker, pulling out a parachute and airtank combination. The bag was shredded. He tossed it down and pulled out another, then another, finally emptying the locker of all six. Every one of them had the chute shredded, though the tanks appeared intact. Blanc turned and yelled up to the cockpit. "Chambers, we got a problem. Every pack is destroyed. I think this is sabotage." Her response of 'Shit' was quickly followed up by orders to strap in, as she flew the vehicle back down through the clouds.

Her voice came in to their section via intercom. "I think someone tampered with the fuel too; getting warning indicators periodically in both engines now." As if to punctuate her statement, the right engine sputtered out and the aircraft began to spiral down in slow circles. This time, her voice didn't come over the intercom. "Fuck!" Then the left engine sputtered out as well, and what might be their metal coffin began to drop out of the sky.

Jaune got Pyrrha's attention. "You think you can slow our fall?" She didn't look certain. "I'll try. This is probably too big and we're going too fast." The aircraft was covered in a black glow, and stopped spinning though it continued to drop. "The best I can do is keep us level and from dropping any faster."

Looking out the cockpit window, Blanc could tell they were low enough to breath again. He unstrapped and then shared his loose plan with the other two passengers. "Okay, you two jump, and then you use your boots to slow down as you get near the ground. Stagger the thrust so you slow down and don't crater." He reached over to Pyrrha. "Save your strength; you'll need your aura for the landing." Then he turned to his father. "She has to make it, no matter what. Everything else is secondary, you got me?" Jaune seemed like he might argue, then stopped and nodded. "Good. I'm gonna grab the pilot and see if this coat of mine will carry both of us for a bit." He smacked the button to open the side door to the passenger compartment, going up to get the pilot as his friends unstrapped and prepared to jump from the doomed aircraft.

Chambers was frantically trying to get the engines to restart. "Forget it, this was a trap. Come on, we're getting out of here." She looked shocked as he reached down and started unstrapping her. "You have aura?" She shook her head in the negative. "Fuck. Better hope this coat of mine holds out. Grab me around the neck and don't let go; the coat is designed to get rigid and act like a wing for gliding. Yes, I've tested it. Come on." He had his eye on the altimeter; they didn't have much longer. She wrapped her arms around his neck, hopping onto his back and wrapping her legs around his waist. "No, you can't use your legs. The coat has to go rigid while it's wide open." She nodded, let her legs go, silently praying.

When he appeared back in the passenger cabin, Jaune and Pyrrha looked at him, then jumped. Blanc reached over and grabbed the bags with their combat gear and threw them out, then ran and jumped, flattening his body as the wind whipped up and caught his coat. He depressed the activation switch in his sleeves and the shock dust crystals electrified the special bundles in the coat, making it rigid. The transition was rough; Chambers almost slipped but he dove into the fall and picked up speed, then flattened out again, slicing through the air, then began to turn back to where the aircraft was dropping, as their gear would be close to that, and also Pyrrha and Jaune.

As he came around off in the distance was another bullhead. It must've been on the same flight path, but given the earlier sabotage of the parachutes, Blanc began to fear this was yet another attack. The other bullhead was armed, and as tracer rounds began to flash by him, forcing him to dive down and glide erratically. Blanc looked to swing away from the other two Beacon students, catching the flares of their boots as they neared the ground and slowed, before the puff of dust and leaves when the slammed down through the trees into the ground. Hopefully with enough aura to withstand the fall.

More rounds followed tracers as the pursuing bullhead struck again. In the distance Blanc caught sight of an open area near a long track through the trees. Probably an old community near a train. Given the forest area, probably picking up dust and lumber. He made for there as best he could while weaving, but by now he was coming up on the tree line. Something punched him in the back repeatedly, and then he felt a deep ache in his side, his coat tore open, and he fell.

* * *

Pyrrha landed first, and a bit more gracefully, and then Jaune immediately after, crashing through the treeline and causing the dust plum where he landed, about 5 meters away. Both were uninjured, though a sore from the rough landing. They could hear the crash of their bullhead further east, but no explosion, and then the roar of canon fire, catching a brief glimpse of tracer rounds tracking toward where they knew Blanc had glided. Neither had really know that Blanc's coat could do that, but he always seemed prepared and they hadn't had time to argue with him, just catching him coming out with the pilot on his back before jumping themselves. Pyrrha had cursed her lack of foresight in leaving their gear behind, leaving them both unarmed, but Jaune was sure he'd seen something falling out of the aircraft after them, so they'd trekked eastward, coming upon the gear bags.

All the bags had burst from the fall, but the equipment looked intact. Pyrrha levitated her sword and shield onto her back and into place, a well practiced move from the privacy of her bedroom before coming to Beacon. Jaune strapped Crocea Mors onto his waist, then picked up a boltor and handed it to Pyrrha, setting one aside from himself. He quickly made a sling to put the extra magazines in, then a second, and divided them between the two hunters. Finally he picked up Blanc's tonfa and Pyrrha strapped them to his back with another scrap from the ruined bags, and they each took a first aid kit and what little snacks they could find. A pressing issue would be water; none had brought anything to carry it in, nor any extra.

"I think I saw a small village to the north." Pyrrha pointed in that direction, then began walking at a brisk pace, Jaune behind her. "Hopefully they have water and supplies, maybe even transport." Jaune sighed. "Most of the places out here are all abandoned or destroyed; lumber towns or small dust mines stripped mined from near the surface before the dust ran out. I think there's a train that still goes along here, but I doubt it stops. Still... better than nothing. I've no idea how far we are from Vale or Bastion." Both blushed; they'd been paying all their attention to each other and the sensations they were giving to their lover than to the time or their position, at least before Blanc had come back and warned them.

"Do you think he's okay, Pyr?"

She paused a moment, continuing her hike. "It'll be fine, Jaune. Your son is one of the strongest people I've ever known."

"Thanks Pyr. I needed to hear that." She smiled back at him, then saved her breath and continued to hike, both trained enough to know to keep silent when possible and listen for grimm, stepping carefully despite the rapidity of their pace in order to avoid leaving tracks or making additional noise and attracting the predators.

* * *

He was disoriented, laying face first in the dirt between some trees. His side burned, but other than his breathing he didn't hear anything. He wiggles his fingers and toes, comforted by the fact that everything seemed to be working, and hearing nothing, opened his eyes, and turned his head around looking to see if anything was nearby.

The only thing he saw was a female pilot, further ahead of him. Her body was contorted at an odd angle. He got up onto his hands and began to crawl on his belly toward her. There was a lot of blood; her back had been punctured repeatedly, probably by gunfire, and Blanc began to remember. He reached down to the left side of his stomach, feeling wetness, and pulled his hand back. He was bleeding profusely; his coat must've been penetrated. He didn't feel any other wounds, so it'd held up remarkably well, all things considered, but as he slipped it off, the thing was little more than scraps. He pulled out some lining from a sleeve, wadded it, and pushed it up against his stomach wound, groaning as quietly as possible at the pain. Overhead, he heard a bullhead moving around, slowly, lights tracking down through the treeline, which darkened the ground despite the bright sun from above, which was probably late afternoon based on the position and that he could see some of it coming in below the treeline as well in the distance. That'd probably be west, so he turned back along the path his body had been laying, where he found the body of the pilot... Chambers, and decided to make for the village and hopefully get help.

He quickly checked her body, finding the usual; keys, wallet, some pictures. He took the pictures, thinking he could at least return them to the woman's wife, then the keys as well, and left the wallet and other now useless junk. He had no knife; the keys would do in a pinch if he had to. He also had no water, and he was bleeding, likely from a shot through his back, which meant that was bleeding there as well. He ripped the poor woman's uniform into long strips, wrapping them around his torso as best he could, trying to stanch the flow of blood. Resting but a moment to get over the pain, he picked up a long branch, broke it to about the right height, and used it as a walking stick to support him through the woods on his way to what he hoped would mean rescue.

* * *

Igara made a good living as a mercenary, enough to be more picky than most about her clients and her missions. This had smelled bad from the start, but the lien was too good and the client, well, he didn't seem the type to take no for an answer at the time, what with those blades at her throat. He'd gotten the drop on her and left her little choice. She thought of backing out once she was free, but didn't want to become a target herself, and the mission should be easy.

And like clockwork, the bullhead had gone down at almost exactly the time her lunatic of a client had said it would. All she had to do was verify the bodies; well, one body in particular. Tall man, white hair. There would be the pilot, a redhead, and a blonde who looked like the target, but their disposition wasn't specified. Hell, she could rescue them for all the client cared as long as the target was dead, but it had to be verified.

And then, what had been a cakewalk had turned into a stupid bughunt; everyone jumped out of the falling aircraft, and the target was GLIDING through the air on his fucking coat! Like that fucking superhero, Verve from that stupid comic Thompson was always reading. She could have, probably should have, waited and tried to pick them up, then executed them, but she'd gotten overeager and worried he'd get to that village to the north, so she'd opened up on him. Got him two, if that burst of blood and then his fall was any indicator, but he'd had someone on his back, so she couldn't be sure.

Now they were stuck. She'd dropped off most of her crew, 10 mercs, keeping 5 with her, and then proceeded to run a search pattern, having the others still aboard look through the treeline for him, starting where she thought they'd hit. She must've got the location wrong; it'd been two hours and nothing. Her radio squawked.

"Firefly, this is Grasshopper. We have sight on one of the secondaries, DOA - the pilot based on her torn up uniform. Rugrat thinks he's found tracks heading north." Finally, she was catching a break. Grasshopper was her second, and rugrat was the newest edition, both faunus like herself. Grasshopper had powerful legs and could leap great distances quickly, hence his callsign. Rugrat was ugly; too much faunus showing through she supposed, for a man with a rat heritage, but he took it well, and he had a keen nose and was an excellent tracker. Most of her crew were humans. It was difficult to find good manpower for this endevour as it was, let alone faunus, but she'd had steady work and good pay and her reputation got around. Most of the crew weren't pleased with this mission, but they liked the payout and the bonus she'd lumped on it to keep them, so they kept their grumbling to themselves.

"Firefly to Grasshopper, proceed to follow tracks north. Quarry is probably headed toward the village."

"Copy that. Rugrat thinks he's wounded; says there are two blood scents here." She grinned. "Roger. Firefly heading to intercept at the village. Push him north."

She stopped her search, turned the armed dropship toward the small dot on the map, and flew on, hopefully getting in front of the target and keeping him from whoever might be in the village.

She need not have worried; upon arrival it was obvious that the village had been abandoned for some time. A few grimm were there, easily dispatched despite their lack of aura. Igara setup to wait, her bullhead hidden and locked down, as the sun fell below the horizon. Without the ambient light from a nearby city, everything turned extremely dark, forcing her human teammates to turn on light amplification viewfinders on their weapons. For her and the other faunus, however, it was just another advantage.

That advantage seemingly disappeared when out of the treeline appeared the other ten members of her force, chasing no one and carrying no body.

* * *

Hours later, her forces were scattered throughout the village. Rugrat claimed to have tracked the blood scent and other signs left by their target to about twenty meters outside the village, where it promptly vanished. They'd even climbed the trees nearby and found nothing. In the distance, she could hear an automated train slowing down to make the tight bend through the village; this would be her targets escape route, so it was where they'd draw him out.

Unfortunately, the village was too large to adequately defend the entire track. It went directly through the middle, and thus the widest part of the hamlet, and the most developed before it was abandoned. Multi-story buildings, large storehouses for material to be transported, facilities for the staff of the small trainyard... and all the support those they'd need existed around the tracks. Most of the rest of the village was housing, and a small barricade wall that hadn't held the grimm out when they'd left but had likely been adequate while patrolled, if the lack of damage was any indicator. Human populations in these areas were very low density, so grimm population density was generally equally low. This would have been a concentrated point, but it'd obviously been abandoned for years, if not more than a decade.

She setup patrol patterns, planning on her wounded prey being unable to fight back and trying to find a way onto the train. The darkness gave her faunus teammates an advantage, but most of her men were human, and they'd have to depend on the viewfinders mounted on their weapons. Still, she was confident they'd find the miserable little shit and be done in time to have breakfast back in Vale.

* * *

Unknown to her, she was being watched in the light of the broken moon by her wounded quarry, who'd seen her team flying overhead, then caught sight of them setting up in the village, and then used his semblance to rip through space into another part of the treeline. It'd cost him most of his recovered aura, as well as perhaps half a percent of his total possible reserve, if he had to guess at it. He didn't have the use of a scroll or other equipment to monitor his condition, but the blood flow had slowed.

Blanc was also getting increasingly light headed. He'd snuck past their line into the village and held-up near the trainyard, hoping to catch a passing train, and stumbled across some emergency medical supplies, and a working handpump for water. Changing his torn rags for actual bandages, using an antiseptic paste, and drinking some water quietly from the pump had allowed him to recover some strength. He'd also found some shots of what he believed were adrenaline, but he had no idea how long they'd been there or how effective they'd be. He also hadn't know that about the antiseptic paste, but he'd used it for lack of any other real choices.

She'd setup her forces intelligently, presuming he hadn't been able to pass them but that somehow her own forces had overlooked him after he'd doubled back on them, so she was waiting him out with moving patrols. But people replicate patterns, and the patrols were predictable in their positions and dispositions, and Blanc had spent the last hour mapping them out in his mind.

At this point the fact that the blood hadn't stopped flowing meant that while he wasn't yet dead, he was likely going to bleed to death without real medical care soon. The slowing blood flow was as likely a result of his blood loss, especially with how hard his heart was pounding by comparison. He had to hope a train would come soon, and he'd have to outmaneuver the people sent to kill him, and hope Jaune and Pyrrha either found their own way, or somehow arrived to help, especially with the equipment. His walking stick would make a decent club or staff, but they were wearing body armor and carry automatic dust-rifles.

If he was going to take out a patrol, he'd have to time it to as soon after it reported as possible to maximize his time, he'd have to do so silently, and keep the patrol from firing and alerting the others. He'd have to disable or kill in a single, silent blow. So Blanc carefully climbed into the rafters in a nearby warehouse, his walking stick snapped to give it a sharper point, with one of the adrenaline shots ready to inject.

He heard the report; it was a bald man, no visible faunus features, as he'd expected. Because of reception issues on their short-range radios and the lack of CCTS coverage, they were making reports outside before checking buildings, and because of the area and her lack of more personal, she had them doing patrols as individuals rather than in pairs. The man walked forward through the doors, checking left and right quickly, dependent on his ambient light amplification display, which was mounted on his rifle. He did check upward as well, but quickly and without being thorough, and it sealed his fate. Walking underneath the white-haired hunter, Blanc injected himself, swung down on his legs, holding the rafter with his knees, and jammed the stick into the base of the man's skull from behind. The corpse dropped with a clatter, no reflex pulling the trigger or noise that would bring anyone else. Blanc used his rejuvenated body, and the momentary strength the adrenaline gave him to swing back up, grab the rafter with his hands, then swing down and land on his feet. He quickly stripped the man of a combat knife, the man's radio, and was beginning to strip him of the man's rifle when a radio call went out for a report, that wasn't answered.

After a second lack of answer, when Blanc still hadn't freed the weapon, he abandoned it, quickly slipping out a side door that was difficult to see behind some rotting pallets just before two enemies entered the main door, sweeping the room and finding their dead comrade. Blanc could hear their report in stereo, both on the radio and from a few meters away, and enemy forces began to swarm to the warehouse.

He didn't have enough aura to teleport again, having recovered almost nothing, so he focused on trying to keep Pyrrha in his thoughts, in case he failed to escape, and stepped away from the tracks, further into the darkened village, happening upon another soldier who was just as surprised as he had been. Blanc reacted faster, reaching forward and snapping the man's neck before he could recover from his shock, but already Blanc could feel the waning effects of the hormone, and his heart was pounding even harder. Cardiac arrest was a likely outcome.

Shaking, he shot himself with another shot, only to feel the rumble of a coming train. He knew it would have to slow to get through the tight bend, so he stumbled forward past the dead man with his head twisted in the wrong direction, not attempting to grab the weapon. Everyone would be alert now, and Blanc knew there were faunus working with them. He turned at the corner of the next building, careful stay as quiet as possible, and waited at the front of the alley as near to the tracks as he could get, behind a rusted out dumpster. A patrol past him, quickly checking the alley before moving on. They were now moving in pairs. He heard a distinct change in the rumble noise coming from the rails as the train slowed further, and began to see light from it over the top of the buildings he cowered between. Another patrol past, checking the alley again but the tension had reduced their effectiveness as they tried to cover more ground quickly, and again they missed him. Covered in dirt and dust, he didn't stand out and with his blood pressure so low, his body's temperature was low as well.

He shot himself again with the last injection, then stepped behind one, jamming the combat knife through the back of his throat and grabbing the rifle from his hands, opening up on the man's partner, a woman, and the patrol group in front of him. He emptied the magazine, killing all three, then dropped to the ground, pulling the woman's rifle to him from her grip and firing on the patrol behind him, who'd begun to fire but were aiming too high. By now, the train had reached them and begun to pass by, splitting the mercs into two groups, and Blanc had killed every enemy on his side of the train. He got up, running as best he could on his fading adrenaline, not quite matching the train's speed.

He lept forward, grabbing a railing between cars in the front-middle of the train, and hauled himself on board. Through his stolen radio, he could tell that his enemies were scrambling, trying to get across the tracks, when he heard a man going by 'Grasshopper' report that he'd lept over the train, and that the target had eliminated the mercs and was likely already on the train.

Blanc could not find a way into the train car on either side of him, but could climb on top. It was a risk, but he couldn't afford to pass out between the cars and fall off. He was already freezing, and the rushing wind as the train began to pick up speed after clearing the bend in the village was only going to lead to more exposure. Everything was working against him.

It took him two great heaves to pull himself onto the rough of the car closer toward the front of the train, and he began to crawl along the top, slowly due to his lack of strength, leaving a blood smear for where he'd unconsciously been holding his wound with his left hand. "Please, Pyrrha... accept this gift and use it wisely." He rolled onto his side, looking down the train, to see a man with powerful legs leaping from car to car in the moonlight. Undoubtedly a faunus, it was likely that man called 'Grasshopper', though his legs did not look insectile, and he could definitely see Blanc.

Blanc Arc was not a praying man. He knew things existed outside known science; he experienced it first hand from before birth. Now Blanc prayed to whatever powers that were that he would not fail his mission, working as hard as he could to keep Pyrrha at the front of his thoughts, though Yang and his regrets flowed over his mind like water over a broken dam. He could feel his heart beginning to slow, his vision beginning to dim, and now he heard the clomp of what were likely hooves as his would-by killer landed on the same car.

Then from the trees, four sparks of fire, two heavy bangs, and a feeling of warm familiarity, and as Blanc closed his eyes, a vision of crimson hair in the moonlight, and his father's blade striking down the murderous faunus as his last sight before he slipped away from consciousness completely.


	38. Chapter 38

**Automated Train, East of Vale**

"Jaune!" There was quite a bit of blood, his clothing being soaked with it, but what concerned her was the fact that Blanc did not appear to be breathing. "Jaune! Help me!" Her love stood on top of the train, staring at his sword. Blood flowed down it in the moonlight, black in the darkness, but Jaune was transfixed upon it, seemingly in shock. "Jaune! Please!" He turned at her pleading tone, shaking his head as if coming out of a stupor, then sheathed his blade and knelt at her side.

"I'm sorry Pyr. What... what do you need me to do?"

"I don't think he's breathing. I..." Jaune swung himself over the body of his son, putting his face down to Blanc's mouth, feeling nothing. Quickly, he swivled his head, closed Blanc's nose, and pressed his lips to the other man, blowing with all his might, trying to inflate the lungs. Gasping, he looked up at Pyrrha. "Pyr, do you know CPR?"

She shook her head. "Okay, I need you to kneel over him and do what I just did. Pinch his nose closed, then blow into his mouth." Jaune was holding Blanc's wrist. "Dust, his heart's stopped too..." Pyrrha moved into position, taking a shallow breath, leaning over... she'd never been like this with anyone other than Jaune. "Pyrrha, you're not kissing him. Blow air into his mouth so it gets into his lungs. I'm going... I'm..." He shook his head and moved down to lean over Blanc's chest, clasping his hands together over Blanc's breastbone. She closed Blanc's nose, sealed her lips to his, and blew with all her might. Blanc's chest rose, then fell and didn't rise again. She sucked in more air, and repeated it.

"Keep going."

She blew again, then felt a sudden jolt in his body. "Damnit, we need to coordinate better. I'm going to push on his chest, try to get his heart started again. I'll do that ten times, then you blow into him, okay?" She nodded, barely visible as a cloud passed between them and the shattered satellite above. Jaune began to rapidly push down, hard, then release, only to do it again. "One two three four five six seven eight nine ten now!"

As she leaned down again, she saw his eyes begin to glow from beneath the lids, then flashing brightly like wingtips from his eyes, and a glowing dust began to pass from his body to her. She froze, beginning to hear the voices of perhaps thousands of women, within her head.

Jaune pumped frantically. "No no no no no..." he was chanting as he pushed, desperation taking over his thinking.

Her eyes began to glow, wingtip spreading from them. In her head, she heard the word, sung in a thousand voices. "Finally." Her eyes looked down at Blanc, dead on top of the train, and her mind spoke back, determination behind it. "Not yet." An instant of thought flashed betwen him and her, obscure and difficult for her to understand. There was a jolt, and abruptly the dust flowed back out of her and into the body below her, which jumped with a gasp as the glow faded from his eyes. His eyes snapped open, looking first to Pyrrha, and then to his father, who was sitting back on his knees, staring at his hands, covered in the blood of his son. Jaune was still chanting, but when Blanc spoke, he stopped.

"Jaune? Pyrrha... what's going on?" Jaune turned toward him, then gathered him up into his arms. An odd sight, because Blanc was slightly bigger in build than Jaune. "Oh thank dust... You... You..."

Pyrrha looked at the father and the son. "I think you died."

Blanc was grimacing in pain from the movement. "I think if you don't get me patched up soon, I'm going to die again anyway." His breathing was shallow and painful. Pyrrha began looking forward on the train, then back. "Jaune, can you carry him?" At his nod, she waved him to the front, then brought her xiphos and shield to her arms. Overhead, a bullhead rushed by in the moonlight, barely visible and quiet in the noise from the train until it was right above them, but further back along the train, Pyrrha could see the movement of more of the attackers. "Go Jaune. Now."

Jaune might have argued in the past, but not now. His son was incapacitated, potentially dying, and they were still hunted. He'd have to depend on her, but he knew that he could. She was the champion, the impossible girl, his goddess of victory, and so he lifted Blanc's weak body into his arms and began to head further up the train.

Pyrrha turned, her attention on the advancing enemy, and began to charge down the train at them, shield before her to deflect their shots. The train was moving rapidly, and while she moved fluidly, the pressure of the wind at her back making her faster, they were facing into the wind, struggling to maintain their footing with heavier gear, so most of their shots flew wild.

Pyrrha triggered her boots, leaping high into the air, and smashing down onto the first trooper, knocking him off the train to disappear into the forest. She tried not to think about what that meant as she slashed into a nearby attacker, smashing his rifle against him, then triggering the Milo's conversion into a spear, and pushing him off as well. Two more stood their ground, rifles at the ready, and at this range, Akouo became necessary, with a bit of her semblance to force their guns away from target as she darted into their midst, making short work of them as well. Seeing no further enemies, she turned to begin rejoining her companions.

Jaune struggled with Blanc's dead weight. He was no longer concious, and Jaune knew he still desperately needed medical attention. Hopefully, they'd find something on the train, because even if they could contact someone for help, he wasn't sure how long Blanc would survive untreated. Ahead, the bullhead turned, leaning away from the train as it's body lay perpendicular, and the side door open. Inside was another attacker, though Jaune couldn't tell anything much about this one, except they were shouldering something, and then a streak of light smashed into locomotive at the front. The soldier kneeled, probably to reload. Jaune laid Blanc down, keeping him in front so that he could make sure the wounded man didn't fall, and then drew the boltor from his back. He fired wildly at the aircraft, and the bolts traced a line through the air and cross the heavily armored target, but they did punch in, and the aircraft jolted, causing the soldier to drop their launcher, which fell over the side, off the train, and into the night. Instead, the soldier picked up a rifle and began to aim down the train.

Jaune prayed to a higher power to help him, then unloaded the rest of the magazine. Most of the bolts did little, but three stitched their way up the enemy soldier, blowing them back into the aircraft. As Milo's rifle-form began to bark, smacking shots into the aircraft's fuselage, then hitting an engine and causing it to smoke, the aircraft banked away and flew off into the night.

* * *

The cabin to the locomotive was damaged on the outside, but had not been penetrated, owing to it's armored nature from so many grimm and white fang attacks. Inside they did find a long-range radio, but no help would be coming to them until they reached the next populated stop, which happened to be the station where Bastion's goods were to be exchanged for those aboard the train, before it returned to Vale. Fortunately, the car directly behind the locomotive was a rarely used passenger car, which had first aid supplies. Pyrrha used her semblance to rip the door out of it's frame.

The interior was sparce and utilitarian. They set Blanc upon a steel table, then proceeded to scavenge the supplies they needed. Fresh bandages and antiseptic paste, a tube and two needle inserts. Blanc's state had worsened. They put a thermal blanket over him to help preserve what little heat he had left, and then followed the emergency instructions they'd received from the town doctor at the station, hoping that Jaune would be an adequate blood donor.

While cleaning the wounds with the paste, Pyrrha noticed a lack of any hole. "Jaune, look at this. He seemed to be healed." Aura could accelerate healing, but it seemed obvious that this was something else. Blanc was still extremely pale, however, and his body temperature low, so they proceeded to begin the blood transfusion. Normally, Jaune was squeamish around needles, but the ability to do anything to help his dying son had galvanized him. "Have you done anything like this before?" Pyrrha asked him as he pushed the needle into his arm, waiting for the tube to fill and push the air out, and then pushed it into Blanc. "No. I had some basic first aid and CPR training, courtesy of my sister, but... I hope I'm doing this right, Pyr. I don't know what I'll... Dust, what a nightmare. Are you okay?"

Pyrrha was quiet, thoughtful. "I've never done that before. Kill someone. In fact, other than some injuries during training and competition, I've never hurt anyone before. And now, there are four people who's lives I've taken. I don't... I know it was necessary but..." She trailed off.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about shutting down like that. I've never hurt anyone before either."

They sat together in silence, comisterating on what they'd been forced to do. They knew from what he'd said that Blanc had killed before, but it was one thing to know it intellectually, and another to have done it themselves. "Pyrrha?" Her attention attracted by her lover, she turned to him from the rattling floor of the train car.

"What was that? That glow... it was in his eyes, and then it... it just flowed into you, and your eyes. Pyrrha, they were glowing with light. Bright light, Pyr."

She sighed. "I don't know, but I know it's part of why he's here. I think it's the thing he claims was intended for me, but he hasn't told me anything else about it. I... I know he says it'll pass on when he dies. Jaune, that's part of his plan." The blonde sat, his face shocked. "He plans to die so that he can pass on whatever that is, to me. I heard it... it spoke, like a thousand voices in unison, all saying the same thing."

He didn't respond for a moment, but when she didn't elaborate, he questioned her further. "What happened?"

"I told it 'Not yet.'. And I think it obeyed. I think it's what healed him, and has kept him alive. And..."

"What Pyrrha?"

"Nothing Jaune. I don't know. A thought... I don't understand it yet." She got up, and sat with him. He pulled her to him as best he could, his arm held out to allow the blood to flow into the wounded Blanc. She wrapped another thermal blanket around them, and they waited together. No kisses or words, just close compassion and patience, with a touch of hope and a lot of worry.

* * *

 **Patch Airport**

The four young women stepped off onto the pad from their bullhead; a civilian version that regularly made the trip between Vale and nearby Patch. Waiting for them, a tall blonde man, stroking his chin, though the soul patch looked recently trimmed, and no stubble remained on his jawline. He smiled at them broadly, his arms opening up, and Yang rushed forward to greet her father. Ruby's normal exuberant greeting was muted. She usually reached him first and bowled him over with her speed and excitement, but she did join the father and daughter, her cousin and uncle, with a warm hug signifying some measure of forgiveness, and Taiyang would take what he could get after their last meeting.

Behind them, Blake and Weiss waited patiently. They'd seen the man's photo on Yang and Ruby's scrolls, but they still were unaware of the change in Ruby's relationship with what they believed to be her father.

"Dad, these are our teammates, Blake" Yang's arm swung out to the black haired girl "and Weiss." This time she swung her arm to the white haired heiress. Blake's muted 'Hello' and Weiss' 'Charmed' were drowned up by the enthusiastic hello from the father figure, though he refrained from hugging them, but only barely. Weiss leaned over to Blake, whispering. "I see where she gets it now. Little wonder, eh?" Blake's subtle nod wasn't missed, but the two girls gave a small smirk and then followed the small family down off the platform as passengers heading to Vale began to come up to load onto the transport.

Yang and Ruby fell back to be with their partners as Tai led them toward the house through the small town of Patch. It was a bit larger than a village, having a few paved streets, a few stores, shops, and restaurants on a main strip, which Yang pointed out, including a nightclub. "They even have an all-ages section, though we don't have to worry about that anymore, eh?" Yang's enthusiastic wink failed to excite Blake, but Taiyang's sigh was audible, even over the sound of public life just before noon in Patch. "Yang, I've not seen you girls much for months, and you both rarely call. I was hoping you'd spend more time at home, especially with your friends along."

"Sure dad, but you can't expect us girls not to enjoy our evenings off, can you?"

Weiss noticed that Ruby seemed to stare at the ground, not looking around. She wasn't really looking for the tour guide push that Yang was giving Blake, but she thought Ruby'd be happier about being home. "Ruby, are you okay?"

The reaper turned her head, looking her partner in the eyes. "I guess so. I'm nervous." When Ruby didn't elaborate, instead turning back to the ground, Weiss stopped her. "What's going on? You've been sullen and quiet, and while it's been refreshing to have some peace it's not like you and it's starting to worry me."

"I... now isn't a good time to talk about it. My... uncle usually joins us for Solstices and I'm guessing he'll be there now, waiting on us, and I'm not sure I want to see him." The rest of the group had continued on, leaving the two huntresses in training out of earshot. "Why? You always talk about him like he's wonderful."

"Weiss, I don't..." Weiss interrupted. "No, you need to get this out before you get there, if you think he'll be there. I just want to help."

"You can't. You can't help, Weiss!" Weiss looked shocked. "He's not my uncle. They've... Yang's dad and Qrow... they've been lying to us. Yang isn't my sister."

"What?" Weiss was shocked. The two had grown up together and even in Ruby's depressed state, the love between them was clear and strong. "How is that possible?"

"He's not my uncle! He's my freaking dad! Are you happy now?" Ruby was practically shouting, no longer sullen but angry. Shock then overcame her, and she quickly looked around to see if she'd been noticed in her outburst. Their family was rather well known in the small island community, particularly because both Taiyang and at times Qrow taught at Signal, the local hunter preparatory school. It appeared that no one was paying any attention, however. This relaxed her, though she was still tense.

"I don't know what to say. How do you know?"

Ruby began to answer, then, reminded of Blanc's secret, shook her head instead. "I don't want to talk about it. Can't you tell? I never make you talk about your family."

"We're not exactly about to walk into my family's drama in the next hour, Ruby." The statement only served to ramp up her anxiety. Weiss noticed the rapid looks that her partner was giving, as if looking for an escape. "Alright. We don't have to talk about it, but I really think you should. You know the way home, right? Why don't we go somewhere private and talk?"

Ruby looked uncertain at first, but seeing the sincerity in her friend's eyes, decided to give it a chance. She said nothing, simply taking Weiss' hand and leading her off to a nearby part she knew about, that would be deserted this time of day, and allow them a place to sit in privacy and see any potential listeners.

Following not to closely was a moderately large crow.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy, JNPR dorm room**

They'd missed lunch, and were shaping up to miss dinner. Nora understood her friends desires to hold with Mistrali traditions, but she had no one other than Ren, and he no one but her. Well, they had their friends here at Beacon, but none of them would object.

Ren was everything she'd always hoped he'd be; patient and loving, with a certain intensity and an introspective nature that showed itself to her in his creativity. She'd honestly never considered the things he'd already done with her, and to her, and yet they seemed like magic. Ren could even make his aura flow into her. A voice like Yang's popped into her mind with a pun, making her have a quick laugh, but rather than be put off of his rhythm, Ren just smiled at her more and continued his ministrations at her alter. It was good they'd not discovered this earlier, or she isn't sure how they'd ever have made it to Vale, let alone to join Beacon.

Beacon was more Ren's dream than her own. She'd follow him anywhere; he was the center of her life, and she knew that she was his. But Ren had some resentment for what had happened when they'd first met, how that ghastly demon of a grimm had destroyed his comfortable life. Nora'd already lost everything by then, and the Mistrali weren't exactly known for their generosity to orphans. Ren had relied on her then, because while he was a bit older and quite intelligent, she'd had more experience surviving on her own, scrounging supplies from the dead, and finding the path to the next hope. She knows he considered finding them an orphanage, and but it'd been the stories of the hunter academies, particularly Beacon, that had settled them on a long path leading from the continent of their home, across the long trek and voyage to Vale through dangerous terrain. At first, they'd had just the wooden toys and Ren's father's dagger, but after saving a merchant's daughter from a beowulf with a lucky blow and unlocking her aura as she saved her friend, they'd come to have his Stormflowers, and her Magnhild. From there, they'd fought a path through bandits and grimm, earning enough to keep them in food, ammunition, and keep them moving toward Vale.

They'd stopped for a few months on the coast of Anima, making a name for themselves and earning a recommendation to Beacon from a huntress there, while they saved up enough to buy passage to Sanus. She almost talked him out of leaving; they could have made a life for themselves there. But he had his dream, and she'd begun to get jealous when it looked like their huntress might have other designs on her erstwhile companion.

And now, here they both were, in the place he wanted to be, with him in her arms like she'd dreamed. She wrapped her legs around him, cooing as she felt him spill into her. "Oh Renny..." He started to roll away, but she held him tight. "Not yet... I want to feel you close still." He smiled up at her, then settled himself down on his elbows, still holding himself up, though his face lay across her ample chest. She squeezed him tight. "I love you, Ren."

"And I love you too. I always have."

She knew it was the truth before he said it, but every time she heard it, her heart soared. The sky'd begun to darken and the room had a surreal quality to it. Holding him, knowing he was safe, though they were both tired, her mind began to drift. "Do you think they'll be okay?"

"I'm sure they're fine, Nora. They don't have CCTS access out there, but I'm sure we'll hear from them somehow soon. Why, are you thinking we should have taken Jaune up on his offer to join them?"

She laughed. "And miss out on this? No. Do you think we can get some pancakes? I'm hungry." Ren's return sigh was playful.

* * *

 **Vale, Cinder's hotel room**

It was no use. She'd tried denying it; the stress of her job was putting things off, the timing just being erratic. But after missing two, she'd broken down and picked up a test. Then burned it to ash in anger, calmed, and bought another.

Now she was staring at the stick, the mark indicating her fear was true. How could she have been so irresponsible? Did Salem know? That... woman knew everything, it seemed. And Tyrian was here, doing a job she should have been doing. She'd been obsessing over it, over the video, and then further video of what was the man's semester combat final; it was one thing to beat holographic grimm, and another to fight flesh-and-blood hunters and huntresses.

What she'd seen had made her even more worried. She'd seen Pyrrha Nikos in action, of course, and knew that among the trainees there would be some strong fighters, but this would worry Salem. She could kill him, of course, especially with her new power, half complete though it may be, but it wasn't something she'd planned on.

Worse, however, was the closeup she'd seen. She knew his face, his body, the feel of his hands, the taste of his skin, and the smell of him before, during, and after intense sex. The best of her life, if she was honest with herself.

And now she was carrying his child.

What could she do? Salem would find her if she ran, and she couldn't complete the mission if her pregnancy became obvious, which it would by the time things were in place. She couldn't accelerate things; she needed the disruption of the festival, the arena, and the other mayhem to cover her attack and get Ozpin to reveal where they were keeping the rest of her power.

She looked down at herself, shed a tear... some part of her had wanted to be a mother, wanted this child, and more. A different life.

Inside her womb, a fire burned away the embryo, the lining of her uterus, and any chance of her becoming a mother.

* * *

This took me a bit longer to write than normal. Oddly, I kept thinking the story might be better if I let Blanc die, and I almost did, but later parts of the story require his presence, and it wasn't hard to write the recovery scene. Also, please don't take this as instruction for how to do CPR or give a blood transfusion; it's been years since I passed my CPR course and I've no experience with blood transfusion at all.

I wanted to include what happens with the other characters, so that's here. The final part was especially difficult to write, and I hope I was sensitive enough with it. It's been planned for some time, and I felt like this was the right place to put it. Cinder can't have the baby, and there's no way she can pretend it's not there. A big part of me thinks the character wouldn't want to have a child anyway, but I wanted to put a bit of humanity back into her, no pun intended, and show that she's not flawless, but she is adaptable, and very goal-driven.


	39. Chapter 39

**Patch Island, Xiao Long house, Early evening**

Yang and Blake arrived earlier with Taiyang, after stopping for a quick lunch in the village. At first, Blake had been worried about Ruby and Weiss, but Taiyang assured her that Ruby knew her way around and that if they stopped somewhere, Ruby could put it on his account. Things in Patch worked on a very trust-based system. Despite the relative safety the island offered, they were a close knit community, with few people coming or going, though the local combat school was the exception and was the reason behind almost all visitors and immigrants to their island home.

The island itself was larger than the community, and it did have grimm, though no one was sure from where they came, because periodically the local combat school and it's instructors would go out an exterminate all the creatures they could find on the island, and yet after a short time, encounters would happen again. The community did have walls, and other natural barriers, and centered around the school itself, which was also the source of most employment on the island, either directly or indirectly in support of the students and staff of the school. Farming was the only other major occupation, but like most places on Remnant, farmers had to be a hearty bunch because they were mostly on their own. Short Wave radio's still existed though the entire island was within the CCTS range.

Qrow had been waiting there, eating a sandwich and some chips, when they'd arrived. Yang's subtle whisper during her hug of "Later." let him off the hook, but Blake's ears had picked it up anyway. The faunus decided to wait and see rather than ask Yang about it, however. From there they'd had pleasant conversation. Qrow avoided talking about what he'd been doing, Taiyang avoided talking about his trip to Beacon, Blake avoided talking about her faunus nature though Yang had told her that it wouldn't matter to anyone there, and Yang didn't avoid making bad puns that had her dad cracking up, and her uncle rolling his eyes and sighing along with Blake.

The sound of the front door opening, then closing, ramped up the tension in the room. Blake wasn't sure exactly what was happening, but she knew it had something to do with Yang's uncle, and almost certainly Ruby based on how stiff everyone was.

"Hey Blake, let's get Weiss and I'll show you around the place, okay?" It was not a request. "Sure."

They waited a minute while Yang took the two teammates outside to show them around, and then it began with Qrow. "So..." Ruby glared at him. "Why?"

When she didn't elaborate, Qrow played it stupidly. "Why what?" Ruby flashed into his face, her semblance leaving the after image of Rose petals in her wake, a slight glow behind her eyes that startled him but went unnoticed by Taiyang or the girl herself. "Don't do that. Don't pretend you don't know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm tired of everyone lying to me all the time. Tell me the truth, dust damn you!"

So he did. He didn't spare her the details of his rocky school relationship with Summer, which had more to do with her flighty nature and inability to commit than his own. He went on to tell her about how a particularly bad relationship break had her turning to him, once again, except this time for more than companionship and easy sex. Ruby was a bit disturbed, but Taiyang backed Qrow up when he said that, at least for their graduating class, the huntresses were always more aggressive with sex than the hunters.

He told her about their wedding. It'd been a private affair; Summer had no family to speak of, and Qrow's family consisted of his sister and her husband and teammate Tai, so it'd been easy to keep the news quiet. Most simply didn't know. He showed her what pictures they had, of the wedding, their first apartment together, some trips they took as a team before Raven's pregnancy, Yang's birth, and the mother's departure. He showed her Summer's swollen belly and the joyous kiss they shared while Tai held a camera and tried to get the three of them in the shoot, only catching his own hair and a finger, and the two soon to be parents.

Then he explained why he left; his semblance and it's effect on those around him, how his sister's semblance counteracted his own and allowed them to live a normal-ish life at Beacon and afterward, how her departure changed that, and his resolve to get his sister back so they could return to having the life he thought they wanted. He told her of what Raven had done, but Taiyang explained to her what Raven did to Qrow that put him in the hospital for two months, despite aura, and how Summer had begged him to stay with her and their newborn daughter. And he had, for a time, until his bad luck caused the love of his life to lose her life.

"That's why I leave, and why I didn't stay. I love you - dust knows I do, but... if I stay something horrible with happen. To you, to Yang, to Tai here... and it was just easier on you and her to let you guys keep believing you were Tai's than be hurt because I couldn't stay here with you."

She was quiet, looking down in thought. The two men said nothing, waiting on her; this was her moment and they were resolved to give her whatever they could that she needed. "Can't you suppress it or something?" He shook his head. "Not that I haven't tried... the alcohol helps, hence the flask. I know it makes me look like a drunken loser, but I can't have what happened... I couldn't take it if anything happened to you, Ruby. You're all I have, even if I don't get to see you much." She wrapped her arms around her father, and began to sob, and he cried with her as he held her tight.

Taiyang slipped outside to join the members of RWBY, sitting on his back deck in the unseasonably warm winter sun. Even outside, the sound of Ruby's sobs were as loud as church bells.

* * *

Dinner had been a subdued affair, and afterward the four women lounged around quietly talking, not feeling up to going out on the town. Qrow had gone out; presumably to hit a bar and maybe pick up one of his many short-term lovers, though Ruby knew he was really just doing what he could to suppress the effects of his semblance. Tai got them some popcorn and put on a video, then retired to his room after giving some affection to Ruby and Yang.

"Would you quit fretting?" Everyone was on edge, including Weiss, but Yang's restlessness was getting on her nerves. Now that Ruby's secret was known by all of them, everyone felt a bit like they were walking on eggshells, and the tension was maddening in what had become Weiss' refuge from the stress of her life as a Schnee.

"He should have called by now. He said he'd call me when he got there."

Blake put her hand on her partners arm to try to calm her. "I'm sure he will. Aren't they out in the boonies somewhere? You can't always get access to the CCTS out there. I know from experience." Yang nodded. "Maybe that's it, but Jaune said they could call from the town square. Blanc told me he would..."

Ruby mumbled out "And an Arc always keeps their word." Weiss looked at her askance, but said nothing.

Her father came into the room. "Yang... I..." In his hand was his scroll. "Dad, what's going on?" He looked a faded, like some of the color had left his body.

"I just spoke with your friend Jaune's parents. Did they get on the flight? They got on the flight, right?" She nodded. "Honey, it never arrived." He wrapped her in his arms as the color drained from her face. "Honey, I have to call them back, they're waiting." He released her, though she didn't step away.

When he gave them the message, she was handed the scroll. A pleasant, though worried, sounding woman spoke to her. "Is this Yang? My son spoke of you and your sister in his letters. I know you told your father that the got on the flight, but... it was coming here, right? Were they going to stop somewhere else?" She shook her head, at first, then replied. "No. They were going right there. Blanc was excited to meet you... Jaune wanted to... oh dust."

"Yang, I'm sure they're fine, dear. Don't fret too much; things like this happen out here. Maybe they had mechanical trouble and had to stop; that's happened before. We'll call down to the train depot and see. I'm sure it's fine."

The call ended, and Yang handed her father back his scroll, then rushed off. Blake followed, only to find her retching into the toilet. "Yang?" She helped hold the blonde's hair, careful to make sure nothing got in it, for which she knew her friend would be grateful. When it finally seemed like Yang had nothing left to expel, the tears began to flow. "It's okay Yang, they'll be okay. He's okay."

"No, he's not. I can feel it. Something awful happened. I feel like he died."

Blake held her as she wept. "No, I'm sure it's okay. You're just stressed out and nervous. I'm sure that woman is right."

But she wasn't. Taiyang stood at the door again, his scroll being slipped back into his pocket.

"Baby. I need you to listen to me, okay? Listen to everything. Baby... are you listening?" She was looking up at him, but it was if she was looking through him. "Yang baby, he's okay now, okay? He's going to be okay."

From behind him, Weiss and Ruby stood at the door as well, but even Blake knew it wasn't okay.

"Something happened to their flight, and one of them got hurt pretty bad. They got on an automated train somehow, and radioed up to the station, spoke with the town doctor. They had to have instructions for... stitching closed bullet holes and giving a blood transfusion. They spoke to a woman, so that was probably your friend Pyrrha. Jaune's family is going down there now to be there when the train gets in. They'll tell us more when they get there."

Yang looked down and began to sob again. "He's dead. He's... oh dust!" Taiyang scooped up his daughter. "No little dragon, he's not. They wouldn't want that information if he was dead. Maybe he's hurt, but he's not dead. No one's dead, understand me? Are you listening?" She looked up into his eyes, seeing the honesty there, and accepted his comfort, smashing her face into his shoulder as she continued to cry.

That night was like a vigil, the three girls holding hope for their teammate, friend, and sister-cousin that her worst fears weren't true. Not even Weiss could remain dispassionate in the face of the fiery woman's despair. She continued to sit, cuddled up to her father, crying softly but ceaselessly. Finally, just before sunrise, Taiyang received another call. They had arrived, the train had arrived, and a white-haired boy who must've been Blanc had been wheeled off to the depot's clinic, hurt, but still alive. Weiss put a call out on her own scroll, given that it was a Schnee facility, but even then she could not obtain any more information than someone had been brought in, was currently under intensive care, but was still alive. Yang had spoken to a very tired Pyrrha, who begged them to let everyone rest and promised to call later in the morning with more details. The call was then disconnected, Pyrrha and the Arcs to go off to the waiting area at the clinic, and the group in Patch to get a bit of sleep while they could, though Yang was unlikely to rest at all.

In her mind, all she could think of was going to him, and she began to think of how to accomplish that.

* * *

 **Bastion Regional Train Depot, late morning**

Jaune was still recovering from the emergency transfusion, and so he had his own room, though it was not in intensive care. The clinic was not large, but because it was the only medical facility other than a smaller clinic in Bastion, it had to have rooms and equipment for emergencies. After having been seen to make sure there was no infection and that his aura was helping him recover well, they'd asked to have him admitted for the evening to monitor him, as he'd been extremely pale when they'd arrived.

The train had required some repairs; the rocket had damaged the locomotive and so while the cars were being loaded, it'd been detached and pulled into the depot for repairs. The passenger car they'd rode in was being cleansed as well, though it was not expected to be used at that time. Pyrrha had slept in Jaune's room at his request, though in a chair rather than his bed, along with his mother. She woke with a start, the memory of knocking those men from the train to their deaths still present in her mind, and discovered Jaune was still sleeping.

"He's a heavy sleeper. Though if Beacon is like I remember it, you probably know that well. I'm Grise, his mother. I'm sorry we didn't get to talk earlier. Are you all right, dear?"

She paused to prepare her thoughts before speaking. "I'm okay, everything considered. The trip was very stressful." His mother chuckled. "I imagine. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Some sort of sobotage, and then we were attacked - well Blanc, our friend, he was attacked. A bullhead was following us... it shot him. We... I'm sorry, it's a lot to talk about... We were wearing our armor. Blanc made it for us..." Pyrrha stood up to show her the golden armor, emphasizing the boots and greaves. "These boxy things on the side let us use aura to jump and fly in a way." She activated the bracer's wing on her left side, using her right to point it out. "With these. Jaune and I jumped out when our bullhead's engines stopped working. Blanc's coat... I don't know what happened to it. He can glide with it, like a wing."

The older woman nodded along, but her face looked confused. "Sabotage? Why do you say that?"

"The parachutes were destroyed; all of them. Blanc checked. He was trying to save the pilot... I don't know what happened to her. I never saw her again." Pyrrha paused, then continued when Grise didn't ask anything. "The bullhead was flying around, looking for us. Jaune said he thought he saw our gear drop out; Blanc must've thrown it out. We backtracked to get it. The bags were wrecked and our luggage was in the hold... I guess this is everything we have left. Anyway, we were able to get Blanc's stuff, the rifles he made, our combat gear. I'd seen a village nearby with train track going through it, so we went to try to get there. I don't know what happened with Blanc; Jaune and I jumped onto the train as it was passing, and he was just there. He... he was bleeding to death. I think he was dead." Tears were flowing out of her eyes, and Grise got up to comfort the woman. "We did what we could; Jaune was doing something that he called CPR but it didn't seem to be working. And then... then he was okay, but the bullhead that attacked us was flying overhead, and dropped some people onto the train... I knocked them off. I killed them. Oh dust..."

Grise cooed and soothed her as best she could, whispering to calm her. "You did the best you could. Sometimes we have to do things we wish we didn't. You're not a bad person. Shhhhh... there now..."

Jaune's eyes opened, and he called to her. Without hesitation, she left his mother's embrace and fled to his, crying into his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. Grise smiled at her boy, now obviously more of a man than he'd ever have been if they'd succeeded in keeping him home. After a while, when Pyrrha seemed to have calmed, he spoke. "Mom, is everything okay?"

"I think everything is going to be fine, Jaune. I'm going to step out and talk with your father, and then maybe ask about your friend, okay?" He nodded, Pyrrha no longer sniffling but breathing quietly and regularly. "I'll come back and let you know." She suspected Pyrrha had fallen asleep.

* * *

Jaune's father was speaking with the doctor on duty that morning. Jaune's prognosis was good, and he was going to be released. Their friend, however, was not doing as well. "I'm afraid he has damage to his sternum, likely from pressure applied during CPR treatments. It's obvious there's some severe damage to his ribs, but there are no puncture wounds. I'd say it looks like he was shot by a powerful rifle, or maybe a machine gun, but the lack of a wound doesn't make much sense, and it's too fast for his aura to have healed him. He does seem to have a healthy amount of it, as does your son, but he still hadn't recovered any when we brought him in. I'll be frank, we should be talking to his parents or guardians, but given your relationship... He's still quite anemic, and I'm worried about internal damage."

The two Arcs looked at each other. "He's a hunter in training. We don't know anything about his parents, but he doesn't need a guardian anymore."

The doctor responded with a nod. "Well, there's not much we can do for him anyway. With his blood so low and no proof of internal bleeding, surgery is out of the question. We'll keep monitoring him, keep him on antibiotics to fight what looks like an infection... we checked Jaune and he's fine, so he must've got it somewhere else. Blanc's blood has an unusually high concentration of adrenaline, like he was injecting it. With his blood levels so low I can't afford to test him as often as we'd like. I wish I could give you better news. He seems stable but... well frankly his chart shows he went into cardiac arrest twice overnight. We need to keep him here."

There was some hesitation, and then Grise asked the question they both dreaded. "So, exactly how expensive will this be?"

The doctor chuckled a bit. "Not to worry; we received a call from Ms. Schnee. Everything is on us. That should be some relief, yes? Also, I haven't forgotten what your daughter did for us during that outbreak last spring." They shook hands. Marron Arc left his wife to go see his son and the girl he'd arrived with, leaving Grise to make the call they were both dreading to update Jaune's friends in Patch. There was a small CCTS relay at the depot.

* * *

Pyrrha was lying next to Jaune when Marron entered, and began to get up, but Jaune held her to him. The older man smiled at them, putting her at ease and allowing both to relax together again. "How is he, dad?"

Marron sighed. "I wish I could tell you better news, my boy, but the truth is he isn't well. He had two heart attacks overnight, his blood level is still low, they're worried about internal bleeding, and there appears to be an infection." He could see Jaune's grip tighten on the girl at his side, though she did not complain. "I think the doctor will want to check you one more time, but you should be okay to leave."

"I can't leave him here alone... he's my... he's our friend, Dad. We brought him here. I can't let him wake up alone." Pyrrha nodded to affirm their decision. The elder arc replied "Jaune, it seems your friend Weiss has covered both of your medical bills, but we don't have the money for an extended stay here."

"Do not worry, sir. I can easily pay for it." She smiled at him, tugging her way up away from Jaune to shake his hand. "Dad, I'd like to introduce you to Pyrrha Nikos. You probably met already, but... well she's my partner, and my girlfriend."

Marron barked out a laugh. "Yes, I figured that part out myself. And miss, while it is wonderful to meet you, I don't believe I could let you use your limited funds for such a thing." This gave Pyrrha pause to giggle. Jaune spoke for her. "Dad, she's the one who paid for our flight. She has plenty of lien for it." Pyrrha smiled. "I'm a bit famous in Mistral, and you may have owned a cereal box with my picture on it?" The lilt in her voice at the end made Jaune's smile brighten, but both began laughing when his dad exclaimed "That was you on our Pumpkin Petes?" in just the same way Jaune once did.

Eventually Pyrrha settled herself back down against Jaune while they waited on the doctor, and the three of them chatted. A nurse came in to take some readings, and a blood sample, and then left again, making no fuss about Pyrrha, though the redhead did stand up to stay out of the way while the nurse worked. After a time, Grise returned to the room, a fake smile on her face, her eyes puffy.

"I take it the call didn't go well then?" Marron was blunt, but she loved him despite his lack of tact. "You could say that. I don't know what will happen to that poor girl if your friend doesn't make it." Neither parent notices the flash of fear and horror on Jaune's face, but Pyrrha notices everything about it, leaning in and whispering to him to calm his heart. "Well, I'm certain he'll be fine. He's a fighter, and the worst has surely passed."

The doctor entered behind Grise. "Yes, Ms. Nikos, I believe it has. Mr. Arc, may I call you Jaune?" At the blonde's nod, he continued. "Our test show your blood has returned to an acceptable level. Remarkable job with your friend; you likely saved his life. And don't worry about the infection, it appears to be under control, and his blood level has risen to the point where we consider him stable. He's still unconscious and we're unsure when he will wake up, but we're confident he'll be fine, in time. As for you, our last test shows you're healthy enough to leave, so we'll get the discharge process started momentarily. Do you have any questions?"

Marron spoke. "Doctor, what did you mean earlier, about our relationship?" The surprised look on his face was unexpected. "Well... I just assumed that between the name and the DNA similarities... are you saying you're not related at all?" Marron looked at Jaune, and the frightened look in his eye, at Grise and her bewildered look, then back to the doctor. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Well, his name is listed as Blanc Arc, and frankly his DNA matches your son's quite closely. To be honest, I'd assumed the two were brothers, though the DNA seems more like child and parent, but that's obviously quite impossible."

Jaune expected his parents to look upset, and his mother looked quite confused, but said nothing, staring as his father. His father's expression, however, turned unusually stoic. "Yes, quite. Thank you. He's actually a long-lost cousin, didn't you say, Jaune?" The team-leader knew his father well enough to play along for now. "Yes. Yes, that's it." A nervous laugh didn't sell it to the doctor very well, but the learned man was prepared to let it go. From the expression on the woman's face, the father's, and the son's, it was pretty apparent that the long-lost cousin was a bastard son. One day he'd learn to keep his mouth shut, but his curiosity was overpowering.

"Yes, well, at any rate, Mr. Arc should be free to go soon. We'll need to keep the other Mr. Arc here for observation, as well as continue his course of intravenous antibiotics and fluids while he recovers. As you're the only known relatives at this time, we'll have to ask you for guidance on his medical decisions while he's incapacitated, but at this point I don't think we'll have any decisions you need to make. His bill is covered, and we'll keep you informed about his status."

Pyrrha asked what everyone really wanted to know. "Do you have any guess as to how long he'll be this way? We've a few weeks of break at Beacon but... we're scheduled to head to Mistral in a bit over a week, and he was scheduled to return to Vale." The doctor sighed. "We don't really no, per say, but if I had to hazard a guess, and this is just a guess mind you, I'd say at his current rate of recovery he'll be here at least a few days, even if he wakes up today. We received his medical records from Beacon this morning, and it shows that he spent a period unconscious from a head injury sustained in combat? Well, there appears to be no head trauma to deal with at this time, so I suspect with his quick recovery then, it'll be a quicker recovery. He may even wake today. He won't be prepared to leave, however."

It appeared they didn't have any more questions, so the doctor excused himself to begin Jaune's discharge. Grise approached her husband, her look now seething. "Long-lost cousin is he?" Marron's palms came up in a placating gesture. "Now, just hold your temper Grise. We do need to talk but not here. If you're thinking he's mine you're wrong; you know I've never had eyes for anyone but you since the day we met." Her eyes softened. "Of course I do... Even today you still only have eyes for me. Dust knows I make sure you never have any reason to look elsewhere." Jaune began to turn green at his mother's quiet giggle. "Minx, you just about wear me out every night. You're giving our daughters a complex. And just look at poor Jaune over there." Pyrrha was struggling to control her laughter as the two parents teased their son. "Oh Jaune, you're not bothered by the idea of me having sex with your father, are you?"

"Mom, can we not talk about things that might cause me to claw my eyes out?" The mood having been changed, Marron turned serious again. "Seriously, we'll talk about it when we're away from prying ears. A bit of history we keep secret for a reason, but I suppose I'll have to tell. And your friend's name is Blanc, Jaune?"

* * *

Note: I'm well aware that people don't recover from injuries like Blanc's in this sort of timeframe. I'm no doctor and it shows. Quite frankly, I also find the idea of another extended stay in a hospital for Blanc to be boring as hell, but I can't imagine a way he wouldn't need one after being shot, dying from blood loss, and being kept alive via emergency blood transfusion.

I do appreciate every review, and even more that they're not bout the numerous typos and other minor errors that bug me every time I go back and re-read chapters. I never seem to catch them before publishing, and as I struggle to find time just to write the continuation of the story, correcting them has proven to be a task I'm just not up for yet. I hope I'll go back and fix them, but that seems unlikely at this point. I hope it doesn't put you off from the story; I'm doing my best to avoid them and correct them before publishing. I also appreciate that no one jumped down my throat for handling Cinder's pregnancy the way I did. I did feel it would fit her character as I understand it, and while personally horrifying, I couldn't really see a way around it. She simply couldn't keep the child. Imagine Cinder on top of beacon tower, eyes aglow with the maiden's power, waddling with pregnant belly toward a shocked Pyrrha Nikos, who couldn't possibly bring herself to strike a pregnant woman. Or the trouble Cinder might have using her bow to shoot Amber around protruding stomach. And how could she pretend to be a student at a hunter's academy? I can't imagine any of them wouldn't make their students take a sabbatical from combat while pregnant. In fact, I'd imagine they'd do everything they could to stigmatize and avoid pregnancy on campus because of that; to the point of perhaps banning sexual relations in some way. I didn't want to do that because I viewed the hunter academies like collages, and despite how coddling present university is, with it's safe spaces, trigger warnings, and micro-aggressions keeping their students from being prepared for reality, I'd like to think that a place like Beacon would treat their students, who have an adult occupation, like adults. Hence the ability to drink alcohol legally.

Time travel is a staple of fanfiction; a great excuse to let authors change the canon chronology of a fictional environment. It comes with it's pitfalls; some I sidestep around by nullifying the usual tropes of causality and quantum universes. You'll find no shortage of stories containing some form of time travel in most fandoms, but they always present problems for which this story attempts to avoid; if you can repeat the story infinitely, how can the person repeating not reach perfection? What happens after they reach their desired goal? If what they do now affects their future, how could they ever change it when doing so would mean they wouldn't go back through time to correct the problem? If every change generates another universe, is the problem ever really solved, or is the character just inserting themselves into a 'better' universe and abandoning their own to failure? I specifically molded my idea of 'time travel' in this story around avoiding these ideas. Blanc physically transports in time but becomes distinct from his other self in doing so. He doesn't have infinite tries to get it right, and he doesn't have to make sure he'll go back into the past to do what he's doing, because the causality loop is completely broken here. So, excuse my authorial sleight of hand as I avoid the pitfalls of the usual time-travel genre.


	40. Chapter 40

**Depot Clinic Laundry, Early morning**

Igara carefully pulled the body up into one of the laundry hampers, then covered it with dirty linens and towels. Hopefully it wouldn't be discovered anytime soon. She'd landed outside the next town where the train stopped, and waited. Too many people had been around to get at the target then, and she'd hoped he'd die in the hospital, but she had to be sure before she could call in the marker. This whole contract had been a disaster, and now none of the crew who went with her on this supposed milk-run were left. With payouts for next of kin and repairs to her bullhead, she'd likely end up coming out in the red on this contract. She wished that asshole had found some other outfit to threaten into this.

Getting out into the corridors was simple; despite the name, this was likely the biggest medical facility in the area, and even at this hour there would be linens and towels to deliver and pick up, scrubs... all she had to do was slip into the flow and make it look like she belonged. Not a lot of faunus in the area, but institutions like this usually employed several as janitors and other cleaning staff, even in Schnee facilities like this, like the unfortunate man she'd used as her cover, a Geuluread Finnegan. Igara's family had rebelled against the color naming scheme so many chose after the color wars, calling it a tool of oppression. All it did was make her stand out as much as her claws, but in her current business, standing out was important.

Unless you wanted to avoid psychotic giggling clients...

No one stopped her. Like most, they looked past her, seeing the cart and the body pushing it but not seeing her and not paying attention. She caught some of the staff's eyes, however, and the confused look on their faces let her know to keep her head down and avoid eye contact as much as possible. Usually the faunus in these buildings were just ignored, either because of racism against faunus kind, or general disdain for the positions they held, but in smaller places like this, people got to know you even if they didn't want to. Maybe not like you, but still recognize you, and there were probably people expecting poor Geuluread and his distinctly orange hair rather than her more dirty blonde locks. Plus, she had tits, and claws...

She couldn't ask someone where the target's room was; she didn't even have a name. She had is image ingrained in her memory, however, especially after that video. She also knew that if he wasn't severely injured or unconscious, she'd have to ambush him. Anyone who could fight like that against four hunters, even in training, and win so quickly and soundly wasn't someone she was going to beat while wearing hospital scrubs and depending on her claws and ingenuity. She nominally did the job, stopping to collect laundry bags from the bins outside the rooms, emptying them into her large cart, trying to ignore the smells and catch a glimpse of the occupants, most of whom were too old to possibly be her target, despite similar hair colors. Twice she'd had to return and dump her cart, though by now people had become used to her presence and she was being ignored the way she desired.

Finally, she came to the intensive care section of the clinic. Smaller... too small to get her cart into, but there were still the laundry bags. A good opportunity if he was there. If not, then he'd already been released or he'd died, so her next stop would have to be the morgue. She found him in the third room; no one questioned her presence and her timing once she'd noticed the young white-haired man lying in bed, the steady beat of the heart monitor and the pump of a respirator going.

Igara considered leaving him; he looked in bad shape and it looked like there was a good chance he'd die on his own, but his chart indicated he was improving and about to be moved out of the intensive care unit, and so she slipped into the room. Cutting his throat would surely work, but it would be messy, and the heart monitor would go berserk, and there's no way she'd escape without notice and even more casualties, possibly her being one. There had been armed security in the corridors, though not many. Damaging the equipment wasn't likely to guarantee his death either; she couldn't be sure he needed the respirator, and the alarm would trap her as well. She spotted the IV in his arm, and remembering a television show she'd seen between contracts, and seeing a sharp object depository on the wall, she decided to try introducing air into his blood. That'd worked in the show and even looked natural so that the killer got away with it.

She opened the container, searching carefully with her claws. The first object she pulled out was a needle, but the wrong kind. It was the kind used to draw blood, and there was no plunger, so no way to push air in. Dropping it on the ground, she tried again, finding a scalpel. Her third try was successful, pulling a small injection needle out of the sharp object box. She turned back to the IV, pulling the plunger all the way back, past a mark showing 50 CC. It didn't look like much, but she'd hope it was enough.

"Can I help you?" She looked up to find a woman in a white lab coat, open to show a creme blouse and dark slacks. She had Asiatic features and darker skin, and a suspicious look on her face, putting Igara on the defensive. "Um, just cleaning up. I noticed these things on the floor. Aren't they supposed to go in that orange box?" Igara pointed at the sharp box, her claws now obvious.

The look didn't leave the woman's face. "I'll talk with the duty nurse about that, thank you. I will ask that you leave my patient's room, however. The laundry bag is on the outside of the room for a reason." Igara stepped toward her, preparing herself to attack, when she noticed where the woman's hand was. An alarm button was right next to it, and there could be no mistaking the woman's intent. It was more of a medical emergency button, but in a hospital people would respond quickly and come there immediately. "Oh, of course. I just thought..."

"Yes, quite. Thank you but we'll take it from here." The woman reached out, one hand still hovering over the alarm button, the other holding the laundry bag Igara was expected to take. There was no way Igara could get to her before she hit the button. Taking the bag, she moved past the woman, her hands now occupied, and walked to the cart to dump it. She turned to go the last room and gather it's bag, looking inside to see the doctor hovering over the target, but with her eyes out the door and on her, and then took the remaining laundry to her car, and fled back to the laundry room. She'd have to find another way, and probably find a way to kill the doctor as well. Her claws were too distinctive to avoid identification, and if they tied her to the body she'd hidden...

One step at a time.

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha returned as soon as visiting hours were available, trying to see if they could sit with Blanc, and when they couldn't, to wait for news in the waiting room. His parents were going to call the Xiao Long family as soon as it was a 'descent' hour, according to his mother, though Jaune imagined Yang wouldn't care what hour it was. When he and Pyrrha were turned away at the intensive care unit to the waiting area, they settled down, but were quickly joined by a doctor in a creme blouse and dark trousers. "Are you Mr. Arc's companions?"

They rose to meet the doctor. "Yes. We wanted to sit with him but they wouldn't let us in." She nodded back to them. "It is policy. I need to speak with you. Your friend's condition is improving, and we were able to take him off the ventilator an hour ago. The aura surge caused the alarms to squeal, so he'll likely be moved out of his room to another, and possibly awake this afternoon." Pyrrha turned to her beloved. "That's great news!"

She pulled them to the side, leaning in and whispering.

"Unfortunately, I think you need to get him away from here. There was a... suspicious incident overnight, and this morning they found a dead body in a laundry room, and I believe the two incidents are related. I saw a woman, with a needle, in a worker's uniform in his room early this morning. She had on a uniform with the deceased man's name. I no longer think he is safe here. I've brought it to the attention of security, but I don't think they're taking it seriously enough. Reviewing tapes they told me. Nothing like this happens here, and they're unprepared for finding a staff member murdered. Can you take him somewhere?"

Jaune turned to Pyrrha. "We'll call my sister and see if she can bring him to her clinic in Bastion. We were waiting on him to recover to leave anyway, but... someone tried to hurt him?"

The doctor nodded at them, her face still serious and strained. "The needle was too small to stab him with and hurt him, and if she was going to try to cause an embolism, it wouldn't contain enough air to kill him. Most people don't know how much air it takes to do that, but they see it on the screens and just assume any amount of it will do the trick. That said, she had claws and I think she would have killed me if not for my hand near the medical alert button."

Pyrrha spoke up. "She still might, if you can saw her with the dead man's uniform on. That'd probably be enough to get her arrested, maybe even convicted. You should get out of here too." The doctor smiled, but it was tight. "I can't... my son... my son is in this hospital for cancer treatment. I can't leave."

Jaune stepped away, hoping to catch Amber via a scroll call to her clinic, even if he had to leave a message, while Pyrrha continued to talk with the doctor. "Once he's moved out of intensive care, you can certainly check him out to the care of another physician, even if he's not conscious. You are both hunters? Good. I will talk to the duty nurse about allowing one of you to stand guard outside his room, and have them make sure all staff is identified to you by another before hand. Come with me and we'll talk to the nurse. If security doesn't like it, they can stuff it up their asses."

Jaune watched her go, listening while the scroll connected. "Doctor Arc's clinic is currently closed. If this is an emergency, please dial *11 for the alert system. Otherwise, please leave a message and the staff will contact you as soon as possible."

"Um, this is Jaune... Arc. Jaune Arc. Amber... Doctor Arc, can you please call me as soon as you can? I need your help." He disconnected, then followed out the door to find Pyrrha.

* * *

 **Xiao Long Home, Patch Island, Early morning**

Yang pretended to sleep, straining to try to hear her father's call. She suspected it would be Jaune's family again, updating them on Blanc. Why couldn't she just get up and talk to them herself? This was her chance, what was the matter with her?

But in her heart, she was afraid, and every second she didn't hear that he was dead was a second in which her life wasn't shattered, in which hope wasn't dead. The relief in the tone of her father's voice broke her fear and she was up in an instant. "Is he awake?"

Taiyang was smiling then at his daughter's eagerness and the hope in her eyes. "Yang, I'm on the scroll." She snatched it from his hand. "Hello?"

"You must be Yang, I take it?" The woman's voice rang with amusement. "I'm sorry, yes. Is he okay?"

"Oh dear, Jaune's fine. He's out with Pyrrha waiting at the hospital again." She was being teased, but Yang took that as a good sign. She didn't reserve her frustrated growl, however. "Yes, dear. He's fine. He... had some rough moments but Jaune has told me that they're going to be moving him out of intensive care and that they think he might even wake up today, with how strong his aura is and how fast he's recovering. It's hard to keep an Arc down, or so I'm told." Yang can hear the smirk in the woman's voice. "Oh, um... thank you so much. You don't know how much it means to me to hear that."

The woman's voice was serious. "I suspect that I do, actually. I've been in your position before, believe it or not. Dear, believe me. We'll take care of your man and send him back to you whole and hale, okay? Now, can I speak to your father again?" Yang nodded and handed the scroll back to her amused father, then proceeded to tackle a sleepy Blake. "He's okay. Oh dust he's okay and it's going to be okay!"

* * *

 **Beacon Academy, Vale, Ozpin's apartment**

He reached over to his nightstand for his scroll, either to answer or silence the noise. The blonde head on his shoulder snored away; Glynda was always a heavy sleeper. A green glow suffused his skin, and he slipped out, grabbed the offending device, and slipped back in before her head could drop. He slowed down, releasing his semblance, and activated the scroll. It was his blackline.

The blackline was the encrypted communication his compatriots used to discuss the maidens, the artifacts, and any other secret state security issues they were working together on - their group was a remnant of the original accords ending the color war, setup by the last king of Vale when he created the council that ruled over the four kingdoms. The blackline was Atlas security technology, and wouldn't ring unless it was in a secure area; Ozpin's apartment was such a place. He answered, knowing the other person in the room was just as privy as himself.

"Good morning James. I assume this is important enough to contact me at this hour?"

"Ozpin, it's good to see you. I see you're not alone; can I assume that's Glynda?" The nod he received in response allowed him to continue. "No need to wake her. I have some information I felt you might need to know about, given our new informant. I thought you said he was going to remain hidden?"

Ozpin sighed, dragging his hand over his face. "I don't think he was aware that he was being recorded, or that the video would be publicly available. You're aware of his situation; I imagine things are vastly different then. I assume that's not why you're scrolling? I haven't even had my coffee yet."

"I'm afraid not; the video peaked my attache's interest, especially the direct use of aura glyphs as direct attacks, seemingly without dust. She's quite sure that's a family technique, so she's kept tabs on this Mr. Arc. And before you ask, no, she's not aware of the significance of the last name." The origin of the Arc name was considered a state secret of the highest order, along with the artifacts and the maidens. "She's also in the habit of keeping tabs on her sister, another student of yours and an Atlas citizen of some renown."

"Yes, I'm aware of how important Ms. Schnee is to your kingdom. Jacques spared no words for me over her acceptance, though he seemed tempered by the desire to insure Blanc Arc's admittance. Has something occurred, James?"

"Weiss had an unusual expenditure at a small train depot's medical facility, west of Vale, out toward Bastion. Medical expenses for one Blanc Arc, gunshot victim." Ozpin sat up, wide awake, disturbing his bed-mate from her deep slumber. "Go on."

"From what Winter could gather, a flight out of Beacon, containing Jaune and Blanc Arc, as well as Pyrrha Nikos, went down near an old mining town along the rail line, where upon they were attacked. Blanc Arc was shot, and apparently has suffered repeated cardiac arrest events before being stabilized. He's expected to be moved out of their intensive care unit today. There's some rumblings as well from the building security about a dead laundry worker and a doctor who saw what she believes was an attempt on his life."

"James, we must secure Mr. Arc immediately."

"Winter has already been dispatched, however it will take some time to get there. She estimated two days of flighttime with one refueling stopover. As you know she had to surrender her rights to the SDC, so she's not in a position to demand their security do anything, and she cannot reach her father. She suggested that you contact her sister." Ozpin sighed, and looked over at his partner.

Glynda joined their conversation. "Unfortunately, we do not keep tabs on our students during their off hours, and we do not have the security necessary to track their scrolls off campus if they're not on an active mission. You know that, James. We don't know where Ms. Schnee is, at the moment." Before the general could berate them for lax security in the face of silly things like privacy rights, Ozpin interupted. "We'll contact Ms. Nikos and the other Mr. Arc and make them aware of the threat, if they aren't already."

"Ozpin, are you sure that's wise? They're not read-in on us."

"Not yet, but as you well know Ms. Nikos has been identified as our next maiden candidate should the treatments on our current fall maiden fail, which they appear to be doing. They're both read-in on Mr. Arc's mission." Ironwood scoffed. "You're still telling me he's a time traveler?"

Glynda's stern gaze didn't phase the general, having been subjected to it when they were young lovers. "James, we've seen it first hand. He's predicted events he couldn't have known about otherwise, and events that hadn't yet occurred. He's amply proven his story to us, which we dutifully reported to you as well."

"And you've spoken to the others about this?"

"Qrow is coming in early; some sort of personal problem. We met with Taiyang earlier when he made an unscheduled visit due to some issues with his daughters. He seemed skeptical but was going to have him at his home in patch for Qrow and himself to talk with him. James, please, this is of vast importance. He has information regarding the conspiracy we've all suspected, and the location of the Queen. Can we really afford to neglect him?"

The Atlasian looked away. "No, not really. Winter will contact me again when she hits the refueling stop."

"Has she manifested her maiden powers yet?" Glynda asked. "No, she's still unaware. I am assuming the same of Ms. Rose. Has Qrow found the Spring Aspect yet?"

"No. He suspects she was last in Mistral, but may be in Vacuo at this point. There are definitely events that make him think she has manifested."

"Okay. Keep me informed about the status of our fifth maiden, and I'll relay his location and status to Winter to secure him."

Before the call could end, Ozpin interrupted. "Oh, and James? He's not to be taken to Atlas. You are welcome to take him on to Patch, however." The general sighed. "Of course. I'll see you in the new year, Oz." and then the call disconnected. The headmaster waited to ensure that the call had truly disconnected, then set his scroll down and turned to the woman next to him.

"He's still an insufferable ass. Between him and Qrow it's a wonder we get anything done."

"Be that as it may, sweetheart, we still need him and his resources, and he may be an ass, but he's a reliable and trustworthy ass."

"You know, the students call you 'a special kind of dick', I believe." She said with a sly smile. "Is that so? And what do you do with a 'special kind of dick'?"

She proceeded to show him.

* * *

 **Depot clinic, mid-morning**

Jaune had heard back from his sister Amber, and then from Professor Goodwitch. The conversation with Amber was a bit jumbled, but eventually they got to the point of making plans. Pyrrha or Jaune stayed with Blanc in his room, at least one at all times, and Amber was on her way with transport to take him up to her clinic in Bastion. Jaune's parents had arrived and would be returning with them, so his father had left to pack them up and retrieve his mother's weapons; they never traveled outside the village without her being armed.

He sat near the door, Crocea across his lap, still in it's sheath, while Pyrrha stood looking out the window, pacing occasionally. His mother had gone to clear Blanc to be transferred to his sister's care, but evidently now that the doctor on shift had changed, there were some issues to be resolved. "Arrogant ass." Most doctors did have an enormous ego, it seemed.

"Did you say something, Jaune?" Pyrrha turned to look at him from the window, patiently waiting on his response. "Not really. Just frustrated. They won't provide additional security but they don't want to let us transfer him to another doctor or facility. And Professor Goodwitch's call was weird. I'm not even sure how she found out we were here, and then she's asking us about where Blanc will be this evening?"

"Perhaps Yang or Weiss told the professors about it? What else did she say?"

"Just that we should expect Weiss' sister, and that we should guard him until her arrival, and then she'd take care of everything. I think she plans on Weiss' sister taking him away somewhere."

Pyrrha looked pensive. "I don't think he'd like that, but perhaps it's for the best. Someone is after him, and I'm not sure if we can protect him. What happens when we get tired or our concentration lapses?" He shrugged. "My mom and sisters will be there. Plenty of huntresses. Amber's clinic is small; we'll keep him home and she can treat him there. He basically just needs to rest anyway." She nodded back, turning to the windows. "Perhaps you're right. It's okay to worry about him. I am as well." She began to chuckle lightly. "This isn't at all how I'd hoped this trip would go."

"Yeah. Sorry about that." He didn't wait for her to tell him it wasn't his fault. Her look said it for her, and by now they'd begun to read each other's faces well. "At least it's not going to involve a funeral." Both of them turned slightly, seeing the boy in the bed twitch. Pyrrha spoke up, a sly smile on her face. "Well, if we had at least you'd get to see me in a little black dress." Jaune looked confused for a second, then noticed the small twitch on Blanc's face, catching on to what she'd noticed. "Well, it's not too late. We can just put a pillow over his face. I can hardly wait to see you in it."

"Alright, very funny. So you caught me." He opened his eyes, then winced and shut them quickly. "Ouch, can you close the curtains or something?" Pyrrha complied and Jaune pressed the button for medical assistance as she joined the stricken man. "You've been here for a couple of nights now. How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty. Could you give me some water please?" The nurse arrived while Pyrrha poured a cup for him from the pitcher near his bedside, and he drank greedily, some of it spilling down his chin and onto his chest. When he handed it back, she filled it again without being prompted, but he was slower and more careful with that cup. The nurse took his vitals, welcomed him, then told them she was going to fetch the doctor on duty for their floor. "So, how long are we stuck here?"

"We need to leave as soon as we can. Someone already tried to kill you while you were here." Blanc had to squint to see his father speak. "Huh. Maybe you both should ditch me. You'll probably live longer at this point." Pyrrha smacked him on the shoulder. "That's not as funny as you think it is."

"Okay... so when are we leaving?"

"And who said you could leave, young man?" The doctor arrived. The same doctor his mother had been discussing arrangements with and had adamantly refused to authorize the transfer. "Well, if it comes to it, I will. I'm assuming my friends have made other arrangements for me?" The doctor sputtered. He could try to persuade the patient to stay, but now that he was awake and alert, he could authorize his own release or transfer if he wanted. Doctor Gespeltnik was not the sort of person to back down, however. "I don't think that would be in your best interest. Your body just went through a very traumatic experience, and it's quite likely you're not thinking straight."

A younger woman, with carmel colored wavy tresses stepped into the room. She was wearing traveling clothes, but attached to her collar was an identification badge. "I don't think you'll be able to convince the other on-duty doctors that being transferred to my care at the patient's direct request is justifiable, Doctor Gespeltnik." The man sighed. "Oh, hello Amber."

"It's Doctor Arc. I've the same degree and licensing as you, Henry. Now please, it's quite a drive back to Bastion, as you made me so aware while we were dating. I'd like to get this transfer done and be on my way, if you don't mind."

"Of course..." He stepped away and out of the room, taking the paperwork handed to him by Jaune's mother, Grise, with him. Amber walked over to the bed, checking his chart. "Well, your vitals look good enough to take you, but I'm afraid I really will need to keep you under observation, Mr... Arc?" The doctor turned to her brother. "Who is this guy?"

"He's our friend, Amber. Yeah, I know. Can we talk about that later? We'd like to get out of here as soon as we can." It was then that Amber noticed how tense everyone else was, including her father, who'd just arrived. "Yeah, sure. Well, Mr. Arc, as soon as the paperwork is completed we'll get you into a chair and wheel you out to your luxurious transportation to scenic Bastion. Dad, can you get your bags and his stuff onto the wagon?" She handed him keys. A nurse came in and began to unhook the various monitors from Blanc, turning off alarms as she went. "Don't worry Mr. Arc, your bill has been covered in full."

Amber raised a single brow. "Well, that's mighty generous of the SDC." The nurse looked at her. "Well, he is a VIP employee." This caused the other Arcs to blink and turn to Blanc. "Uh, yeah. I do work for them on the side. Prototypes and that sort of thing."

"Oh yes, Ms. Schnee was very specific when I took her call. Every expense covered in full, including room and board for all of you while you were here at our Depot. We've already taken care of the bill at the hotel as well. You must be very important, indeed!" Blanc looked uncomfortable. Amber spoke up again, changing the focus while the nurse cleaned up to leave. "Okay, we should get moving then. Ma'am, if you'll just bring a wheelchair around we'll have him out of your hair in no time." The nurse blushed but nodded, and then left the room.

While they were waiting, the Arc matron decided to tease her son's friend. "Well, young master Arc. Do you have that effect on every lady you meet?" He was startled at first, but catching the slight lift of her smile, and his father's widening eyes, determined he was being teased and decided to play along. "Not as many as I'd like, but I'd welcome discussing it with you more closely. Experience trumps youth, after all." The exaggerated predatory look on his face had her in giggles as Marron returned. "What did I miss, then? Oh, and Amber, the nurse asked me to give you this note. Now why would she be giving you her scroll number?" Amber scoffed, but took the note and put it into her pocket. "What? I'm single." The same nurse arrived with the chair, blushing and avoiding eye contact with Doctor Arc, who leaned over to her and whispered, deepening the blush and causing the nurse to leave. Amber grinned, then moved the chair over to the bedside. "Now, Blanc is it? Don't be offended. I don't have a lot of staff so I'm used to doing these things myself." Jaune stepped forward, helping to lift Blanc into a sitting position, but it was Amber who got him into the chair. "I can probably walk, but..."

"Is there something you need before we go?"

"Well, yeah. I need to use the facilities." She nodded, then wheeled him into the attached bathroom. "Uh, I think I can handle this myself." Everyone had a shocked look on their face, but no one said anything, mouths hanging agape. "Hey, what are you... hey!"

"I'm a medical professional, Mr. Arc, now let me - wow. You'll make some person very lucky someday." She pushed the door shut with her foot, and the sound immediately stopped. Pyrrha turned to Jaune, took a quick look down at his crotch, then back up to his face, blushing. His mother noticed, then looked at her husband, who still watched the bathroom door in shock, to her son, who was looking down at his own crotch, and then up to his girlfriend, but wasn't quite as embarrassed as she thought he would be if the girl wasn't aware. "Well, I guess she knows one secret about Arc men."

This caught Marron's attention. "What's that dear?" When she didn't repeat it, he looked over at the other two in the room, noticing their matching blushes. "Oh, yes. That. Well, eventually you'll get used to it, Pyrrha."

"Marron!" "Dad!" were heard simultaneously.

"Oh, so I'm the only one not allowed to tease anyone here?"

"That's quite alright, sir. I'm always happy to accommodate Jaune." Pyrrha said, filled with false bravado. "Pyrrha!"

"Oh, I like her already. She fits right in, wouldn't you say, dearest Grise?"

"Yes. Quite." Grise Arc wasn't sure how to feel about the idea of her only son being sexual active. She liked Pyrrha, quite a bit if she was honest with herself, and could definitely see the her as a future addition to her family via marriage, but the pair could only have been dating a few short months. And Pyrrha was Mistralian. She thought hey had rather traditional ideas regarding sexuality before marriage.

Well, there had been that Mistrali boy she met at the Vytal festival while she was in Beacon, before she'd met Marron, and... oh. He sharp eyes darted over to the flame-haired beauty, resplendent in golden armor, and realized just how... accommodating she must have been. "Oh, you poor girl." Pyrrha's blush deepened, and Jaune dropped into a nearby chair, head in hands, red from head to toe, save his hair. Marron gave her a queer look. "Dearest?"

"Oh, nothing my love. Don't worry about it. I'm afraid this one is too much to tease about."

"You'll tell me later?" She turned to her husband slyly, prepared to embarrassed the new couple a bit and definitely torment her son. "Perhaps I'll show you instead."

The door to the bathroom was open, Blanc in his chair, looking mortified, and a smug grin on his aunt's face. "Well, that was certainly something..." He grumbled to himself. "I didn't need any help, and certainly not holding it." She smacked his shoulder. "Oh stop you big baby."

He looked up at her, a bit angry. "I was sitting down. I didn't need to hold it at all, let alone have you hold it for me." He turned to Jaune and Pyrrha, both now looking mortified themselves. "We will NEVER speak of this. Understood?" The nodded, Amber laughed, and the two eldest Arcs simply looked on unphased.

"Sorry Blanc. She's always been a bit like this. Best to just go with the flow." Blanc gave her a dirty look, but said nothing. There was no way in all the 9 rings of hell he was going to tell anyone else that his aunt had practically jerked him off in a toilet.

* * *

 **Fueling station, Northern Vale**

Winter studied the video closely while waiting for the refueling to complete. She was currently watching it, frame by frame, noticing the tiny glyphs form and disappear. Originally she'd been intrigued by how he'd used glyphs, without dust, to destroy targets in the holographic simulator, and so many at once. She could perform a similar feat, but only one at a time, but now, looking over this video and the video of his defeat of an entire opposing team, by himself, she could see that he had a much greater mastery of the glyphs. Weiss could use them to accelerate her body, even project them elsewhere and ricochet between them, or use them to accelerate someone else. It was a technique she'd taught her sister. But to use them to accelerate individual limbs? They were extremely small, flashes really, and you could only see them if you knew where to look. Tiny enough that only her familiarity with them allowed her to identify them at all.

And he used so many of them, constantly. Seemingly without thought. She knew it would take a great deal of training to use them as unconsciously as it appeared this Blanc Arc did. Even her specialist training, intense though it was, had not resulted in her being able to create glyphs without conscious planning. Weiss still required dust, and doing it without was a strain.

For a moment, she wondered if he could help her with her own emerging problems. Whoever this boy was, he had a mastery over a very similar semblance, one she thought almost completely restricted to her family, to a degree that she knew of in no other, but the things she'd begun to do... She was careful to keep it hidden from her superior. She wasn't sure how General Ironwood would react, and she didn't know of anyone she could approach for a discrete consultation. If only she'd kept in touch with Qrow.

No, there was only anger there. He'd been unable to live with her uninhibited attitude toward sex, and she'd been unable to go without for him. It was him that blew up over the girl she brought home, a present she thought they could share to mend fences, so to speak, and him who drove the wedge between a continuing friendship even if they weren't going to keep fucking. Part of her, deep inside, regretted what had happened. He was the closest she'd ever come to anything resembling a long term relationship, and she knew she'd destroyed it by fucking around on him, but she was never going to be hemmed in the way her mother was, denied sex and love and companionship because of the desires of anyone else, man or woman.

Perhaps she'd get to taste this young prodigy. She rewound the video, intent on studying his muscular form rather than his use of glyphs.

* * *

I probably let the sex-jokes go too far with the hospital room scene, but when I wrote them I thought they were funny. I also let the perspective change too much in order to get the thoughts of everyone involved, but since I'm experimenting I decided to leave it, as is, and see what other people think. If I don't get any negative comments about the perspective changes, I might do it again.

No, I'm not fishing for reviews. Perish the thought!

Sorry this took so long. I've taken a vacation and had some issues come up in my career that I needed to put first, and frankly I kept toying with the idea of killing Blanc. Unfortunately that just destroyed too many of my plans for this story, and I wasn't willing to abandon some of those scenes, which are part of the reason I began to write this in the first place.

For reference, I did try to see how much air it would take to kill someone, though I'm not going to put that here. You can find it if you look, I guess. Needless to say, Igara would not have killed him, even if she'd succeeded. I've often heard that details are intentionally wrong in TV and movies in order to keep people from actually following through on some murder ideas there, but that's probably just 'urban legend'.

If anyone's squicked by the faux-incest, I sympathize. She doesn't know, nor does Winter. I've toyed with using Jaune's sister's sexual attraction to Blanc as a running joke for this portion of the story. If that upsets you too much, let me know and maybe I'll avoid it.

Thanks for reading.


	41. Chapter 41

**South of Bastion, early afternoon**

The wagon, as it turned out, was actually a six wheeled all-terrain vehicle, which was a good thing as the road between the depot and the settlement of Bastion was little more than a large well-worn path through woods and occasionally crossing a stream, which the path seemed to wind around like a snake. The vehicle, like many used around Vale, and been military surplus. It retained it's gun mounting; a necessity when out in the unincorporated areas of the continent where encounters with grimm and other dangers were not rare, but the troop-transport potion had been retrofitted to carry medical supplies and gurneys, one of which Blanc found himself strapped into.

"Do I really have to be strapped in?" His frustration grew every time he asked the same question. Then they'd hit a large bump, or drive over a small boulder, or hit the stream a bit too quick, and the people in the seats around him would flop around like fish. No one bothered to answer him.

The vehicle, called a tarantula, despite only having 6 'limbs' rather than 8, was wide bodied and could hold two gurneys as well as seat 8 people on either side, plus the medical supplies and portable medical equipment Amber Arc needed for her traveling practice. She had a clinic and equipment there, and even a few local folk-nurses to act as staff for it, but the majority of her business, and the need for her services, were out and away from Bastion, at homesteads and encampments. Her short-wave radio would flicker on with the random civilian communications common to the area. Today there appeared to be two logging camps nearby, having a debate over who'd catch the most fish from the stream for dinner that evening. The farmers around Bastion tended to be quiet unless they needed something, but the logging camps were full of young men with time and a lack of things to keep them interested. Amber sometimes thought they would injure themselves on purpose, just to get her to come out. Unfortunately for them, the logging forests were about half-way between the SDC depot and Bastion, so as often as not, they got service, and a corresponding bill, from the Schnee clinic, and not a visit from the attractive, and single, Dr. Arc.

She'd sampled the lumberjacks on occasion. They were always transitory, so no relationship was possible, but she had needs.

As the young doctor drove her wagon back to her clinic, she talked with her father, who'd been nominated to ride with her. She might have taken offense over people deciding who would have to sit with her, but she knew her father loved joining her when he could, as he would any of his children, and that he would get the least out of teasing poor Blanc. "Interesting companion my brother has."

"Yes, though she seems to be a fine match, in my opinion." He was being obtuse and obvious about it. "Yes, though that's not who I was talking about and you know it." He grunted but said nothing further. "Who is he? I didn't know there were any other Arcs. You told us you were an only child."

"I did not lie. I knew of no other Arcs." When he didn't continue, she scoffed. "Okay, so who is he then? No one seems all that keen to call him a liar, and... look, you know I gave Jaune physicals. He's got Jaune's body, mostly. Did you..." He didn't let her complete her thought. With a stern look at her, turning his head. "No, and you know me better than that. I've loved your mother since the moment we met. I've been faithful to her since that time, and even if I were so inclined, I've never been in the position to do so anyway. If your mother wasn't with me, one or more of you kids were. And I'll thank you not to be whispering any of this poison into your mother's ear. Dust knows why, but she still has an unreasonable jealous streak and self-esteem issues that I can't even fathom at this point. Twenty-seven years we've been married and she still fucks me raw sometimes." Unlike her siblings, Amber wasn't disturbed by the idea of her parents continuing to have sex, both as a result of her age and her being a doctor. You don't have seven siblings and not understand what your parents do with each other. Hell, she'd walked in on them once - that had been mortifying."

"Alright. I'm sorry Dad. Just... who is he then? I mean, you told us where the name comes from, so... I'd expect you to be angry or something."

He sighed. "I guess I should be, but the honest truth of it is that I trust your brother. And it's not the name that matters; they test for genetics... why, were you considering taking up that mantle?" She stared out at the horizon, driving automatically. "I think we all have, at least once, but... I always remember what you told me about your grandfather. I don't want that, and I wouldn't want that for my children either. Do you think he wants it?"

"Jaune has his issues, but he's always been a good judge of character. You know he brought the two of them here for a reason, and they're both genuinely very concerned for their friend. We'll let them tell us about the boy when we get situated. So, tell me, how soon will I have grandchildren?"

"DAD! Not you too... do you guys do this to Verd and Az?" Her parents talking about having sex with each other? No big deal. Asking her when she'll spring forth progeny? Shudder inducing. "I'm not even in a relationship, and I don't have time to raise children anyway. I need someone who'll be there, you know? I'm the only trained medical practitioner in Bastion or it's surrounding area. We've had this talk!"

"And we're going to keep teasing you about it because we know how much you stress about it. Sweetheart, in all seriousness, you've got plenty of time for all of that. You're still young; enjoy your life and it'll come." She decided to tease back. "Well, the way Jaune's friend is packaged, maybe he's Mr. Right."

"Amber Arc. That boy is barely older than your brother, and training to be a huntsman. What kind of... now you're teasing me aren't you? Okay. I guess I deserve that."

* * *

Two of the occupants in the rear of the vehicle were sleeping, propped up against each other, Pyrrha drooling onto her beau's shoulder. Grise Arc had chosen to sit on the other side of the vehicle, presumably to fuss over the other passenger. "So, Mr. Arc. How is it that you came to be my son's friend?"

He was literally a captive audience. "We met during initiation; helped each other out of a tight spot."

"And yet you're not on his team? I'm a Beacon graduate myself, you know. Teams tend to stick together, or at least, partners do. Where's your partner, if I may ask?"

He struggled at first, trying to shrug, then realizing there wasn't enough wiggle room for even that. Sighing, he replied instead. "Well, I don't have one. Or a team, for that matter. Jaune's was already full when I met them. I never found anyone in the forest who didn't have a partner already." She leaned forward. "I wasn't aware anyone died during initiation. They talk a big game, but in all my time at Beacon or as a professional huntress, it was a well known secret that the staff makes sure there are no significant injuries."

"I don't think anyone did. Just an odd number of students this year."

Her face turned skeptical. "There have never been an odd number of students."

"What do you want me to say, Mrs. Arc. I'm on my own. It's a situation I'm well used to." Her look didn't recede at all, so he continued. "I'm mostly a loner by nature; I've trained to fight and survive on my own for a long time. I would guess the headmaster took that into account."

"Yes, I imagine he did. Very well, do you have any family? What about your parents?"

He sighed, looking away, then turned back to her. "That's a tough question. I do have family, I guess, but we're not close and I've never spent time with them before. And my parents died - my mother only recently, before I came to Beacon." Her gaze softened, as he knew it would. "I'm sorry to hear that. I suppose there wasn't enough time to take you in then?"

He barked out a laugh before he could stop himself, earning a queer look from the matron. "Uh, no. No time at all. It happened just as I was leaving. She and my... grimm." The woman sighed. Life on remnant was hard, and unless you lived in the kingdom-cities proper, grimm were always a threat. It wouldn't be the first time someone had lost their family in such a manner.

Blanc asked to change the subject, and his subdued manner persuaded her to change topics. He asked about her children, a topic of which he knew any mother would be able to talk about endlessly, at least to an interested party, and the matron of Arc was no exception. It helped that he was genuinely interested.

"Our oldest daughter is Verdoyant. We were out on an adventure in the forests, nearby here probably if they haven't yet cut it down. Foolish, young, and so much in love. Poor Marron had to help me deliver her because we got caught too far from our rover to make it back to Bastion, the depot, or radio for help from Doc. You know, I never did get his first name in all the years we knew him. Anyway, we named her for the forest, Verdant. We have two green eyed daughters; the older is Verdy and the younger goes by Violet, even though her name is Verte. Verdy has a career in landscape architecture in Vale. She designed the resent garden renovations at Beacon, in fact. Have you seen them?"

He nodded, neglecting to mention he'd only really seen them because Yang had brought him there to make out, which seemed to be a popular activity for the area. That didn't seem like an appropriate topic. "They were quite beautiful." Her received a beatific smile in return. "She's very proud of it, though like any artist it's never her best work and always needs improvement. Unfortunately, I doubt we'll see her. She originally studied to be a huntress at Beacon, but the when her partner died, she gave it up."

"Azure came a few years later; you'll her notice immediately by her eyes. The bluest of blues we've ever seen, to this day. Almost a bit unnatural. She helps her father and I run the farm when she's here, along with Violet. She attended Atlas; she's been fortunate but I think she might be addicted to the adrenaline. She was always competitive and she loves to fight. She also has dark hair like her Amber, though between Marron and I it's a wonder where all differing colors came from. Noisette has a rich brown color to her hair and eyes. Of all of Jaune's sisters, she's the most restless and unfocused. The only thing she seems to care about are men, which she goes through like water. Last we spoke to her, she was in Mistral in the entourage of some pop star there, and they were on their way to Vacuo. It's only been a few days, however, and there's usually some time between when we can speak. I doubt you'll meet her, either."

"Well, you've met Amber, our third oldest. Her real name is Ambre, but she prefers the way Amber sounds. She's a licensed doctor - studied at Vale and then spent time in Altas before returning when Doc Browning retired. She's built quite a practice, but it keeps her busy, and she's got a ... fairly active love life. We don't see her often, though I wish we saw her more. The other girls look up to her and love to gossip about her exploits. She dated that cretin of a man briefly. She thought they had something lasting, even starting to talk about him joining her practice and being able to start a family, and then he dumped her because he didn't want to leave that crappy Depot and the road was too long and hard. For the best, though. He's insuferable, arrogant, and talks to farmers with snide tones and a sneer on his face. I thought Marron - that's Jaune's father. I thought he was going to kill him the first time they spoke with one another. In fact, I'm sure I'd have dug the grave for him if not for Amber."

"Verte came next. Green eyes like her oldest sister, and a terrible stubbornness she gets from her father. Truth be told, of all my daughters, she's the most suited to motherhood, having helped me raise the younger children. Noisette came shortly after. Violet still lives with us, helping her father with the farm and helping me with Jaune's younger sisters, but Noisette... well she's always been a restless soul, and very self-reliant."

"My only boy was next, then Lapiz and finally Safran. The two youngest girls are still in school. Don't get me wrong, we love our daughters and we were never disappointed, but we both wanted at least one boy and one girl, and Verdy, Azure and Amber were teenagers by the time my darling boy came to me. He has his father's build and coloring, but always my disposition, and I'm afraid my father-in-law played up all the wonders of travel and adventure and neglected the aspects of danger that come with the career you've both chosen to pursue."

"Blanc, I'd be neglectful if I didn't at least try to persuade you. I've given up trying with Jaune, he's set in his course... hopefully with Pyrrha by his side he'll be more cautious but... it's extremely rare for a hunter or huntress to reach my age. Did you know that?"

"Mrs. Arc... " She stopped him. "Please, call me Grise."

"Grise then... I really do appreciate your advice but there's no way I'm going to change my mind. I can't. I... there are things I have to do, and being at Beacon... it's the only way I can do it." The woman sighed, rubbing the back of her skull through her hair, exactly the way Jaune did, and Blanc himself. "Well, I felt I had to try. I was a huntress myself, you know."

Blanc listened intently. He really didn't know much about his grandparents or aunts on the Arc side, and though Jaune had hinted that one of his parents was the inspiration for why he'd sought to become a hunter himself, he hadn't pictured it being his grandmother. "I was an orphan. Not at an early age; my parents were archaeologists, going around Remnant, funded by the SDC, attempting to find the history of humanity from before our recorded records, and dust deposits along with them. It's a funny thing, you know. Dust seems natural, though even still we don't know what makes it or causes it, yet it always has ruins around it. Ancient and very mysterious, I grew up around those things, my parents having long discussions about the origins of our people, the grimm... they believed that there was a time before the grimm, that humanity existed long before, and that our moon was once whole. I can remember an ancient vault, steel door to rival our modern bank faults, full of what looked like electronic equipment and documents, but... well there was no dust inside. No power source they could discern. My mother took some samples and had them tested. Thousands upon thousands of years older than our oldest records."

"I guess I got my spirit of adventure from them. Their career and lifestyle often led us to places where the grimm roamed and people generally did not. Sure, we spent time in mining towns and camps, but as often as not, we were out on our own. I think they both had huntress training, they always seemed so capable." She paused, looking up into a sky she couldn't see. "Until they weren't. They called in a rescue, but the only person who survived to get on that bullhead with the hunters who came was myself. One of those hunters took me in - taught me the things that my parents hadn't gotten around to, and got me enrolled into one of the combat academies outside Atlas, where he was based. He didn't live to see me graduate, but he'd been a Beacon graduate, so... I followed him."

"I tried to find more out about them, my parents and the hunter team that rescued me, but... it seemed my parent's research wasn't well regarded, mostly over religious reasons. The faith of the two brothers was much stronger when I was young, you understand. Anyway, I did find what I could about the hunter team that rescued me, and my adoptive father in particular, but it wasn't all that much. They were all from Menagerie - no, not all of them were faunus, but my adoptive father was. I've raised all my children with a deep appreciation for what he did for me."

Blanc waited until she paused, then asked. "What was his name?"

"Alexander Taurus. He had dark red hair, streaked with black, and an attractive face. Immensely strong, and with a good heart. He'd been married, but when he brought me home... his wife left and took their infant son back to Menagerie. She wasn't raising any humans." There was a bit of bitterness in his grandmother's face that quickly disappeared. "I told him it was okay; he could take me to an orphanage and follow his family, but he just replied that he'd made a promise and he would keep it. I did come to love him like a father, and that was what he was to me. He stayed with me until I went to combat school, which in Atlas they are boarding schools. You live there, you know?" He nodded, familiar with it himself though he'd never attended. "He was killed on a mission that same year, before the first break. I never saw him again, except his picture at the funeral we had for him. I still see one of his teammates now and again, but the other two are gone now as well." She shook her head, as if clearing her thoughts.

"Blanc, being a hunter is very noble, but it's also very lethal. You're almost certain to die before retirement, and likely to die before you even settle down and have a family. Are you sure this is what you want?" He looked away, at his sleeping father and the woman Blanc had come to admire so much. "It never really has mattered what I want. There are things I must do, and I will do them." She thought he was ashamed, but if she could have seen his face, she would have seen the jealous longing in his eyes. Not for Pyrrha, but for what the two of them had and would have in the future. Then, he was reminded of Yang, and the hope she'd given him about the fall maiden in Ozpin's basement, and he turned back to the older woman with a smile. "But, you never know. Maybe I can do what I've set out to do, and then I'll be free to decide for myself."

She smiled back, but it was a hollow smile that didn't reach her eyes. She knew, just looking at him, that he wouldn't live to see another break. There was something in his aura that spoke to her, a fate she could see but couldn't change. "Well, please don't blame an old woman for trying."

He scoffed. "From what Mr. Arc says, it doesn't sound like you're out of your teenage years."

She barked a laugh. "Well, yes. Having an unlocked aura seems to do that to women, Blanc. You'd think I unlocked Noisette's the way she behaves." The smile on her face was teasing; even without the young woman here, the mother's love for her children showed through.

"Mom, she just hasn't found the right guy yet." Evidently, Jaune had woken up. Blanc looked over; Pyrrha was breathing differently but keeping her eyes closed, feigning sleep. Perhaps they both had been doing so while he talked with his Grandmother.

Jaune and his mother conversed, a teasing tone in their voice, and Blanc nodded off to sleep, strapped down and bumping in a somewhat steady rhythm. Part of Altas training had been learning to sleep whenever it was safe to do so, regardless of comfort.

* * *

 **Xiao Long home, Patch Island**

It hadn't been a long call, but Blanc had called before they left the depot clinic, and Yang felt so much lighter. He sounded like he was in a sour mood himself, though he apologized to her for worrying her. He'd hemmed and hawed when she'd asked him what happened, but ended up telling her that he'd been shot and he'd tell her when he saw her.

After, she'd gone back to bed and finally fallen into a dreamless sleep. She'd woken up briefly when her father came to see her about lunch, but evidently all of them were exhausted from their overnight vigil with her, and so none of her teammates were up and about, though Yang was certain Blake was reading rather than sleeping.

Dinner was another affair; her father had put out a big spread for them all. It was obvious that both Blake and Weiss were a bit uncomfortable, having little experience eating with their family. Qrow had been there, and Ruby had finally explained to Weiss and Blake what was going on. Of course, it didn't have the same effect on the two young women as it had on Ruby or Yang, but they understood what had tormented the sweet reaper over the last few weeks. If Yang wasn't mistaken, Weiss had even been a bit doting on her sister.

Yang refused to think of her as just a cousin, after all they'd been through.

The dinner had evolved into telling stories about each other as a family, teasing and embarrassing, and also a lot of pride. She'd noticed both Blake and Weiss had seemed a bit out of their element, both of them without close family. Weiss had talked about her sister, which seemed to put her uncle off enough that he left the room, and Blake had finally described her parents, who evidently led the largest settlement in Menagerie after her father had stepped down from the white fang, back when all it was known for was civil rights protests and humans had been equally welcome among them. She didn't have a photo, however, and she wore her trademark bow, uncomfortable with revealing her heritage to the two men.

Her father hadn't been too pleased with their exploits at the docks and his cousin's involvement, though Qrow seemed to feel that Ruby's lack of injury made it okay. They talked about the mundane activities at Beacon; she talked mostly about her bouts in combat class, to be honest. In the end, Qrow pulled Ruby aside to talk, and then left after a long conversation, and her father grew tired and decided to go to his own room and let her team relax together.

* * *

Yang had thought perhaps they might go out, but the other three were still fairly tired, so they took a walk around the property, inevitably splitting up into partnerships, and Yang vented to Blake about Blanc, to which it became a certainty that the brunette had heard enough, and then, just to tease, Yang asked about Sun.

"Um, he's okay I guess. I'm not really looking for that kind of thing right now."

Yang smiled. "Come on girl, you know he's a fine specimen. I mean if I didn't have Blanc I might be interested. You don't have to take it seriously."

"I'm just not looking to get attached. I was in a long relationship before coming to Beacon, and it ended badly. Look, can we just drop this? He's not what I'm looking for right now."

"Blake, I see what you read. I'm not stupid; I may not have read the books but I can read the cover. You need to get laid." Her blush was cute. "Look, maybe tomorrow we can hit the village, see if there might be some guy you'd be interested in having a fling with?"

"Yang. No."

"Or a girl, if you're into that. I mean, sometimes I think about it and wonder you know... not that I've ever tried it."

Blake thought back to her fantasy from before, blushing more deeply. "Yang, stop. I don't want to do this."

"It's okay if you like both I guess. I mean, the more the merrier, right? Wait, are you like... looking for a threesome? Because I saw that page you had marked."

"Oh my dust, Yang! What is wrong with you? I really don't want to talk about having a threesome you and Blanc!"

The conversation paused, Blake's eyes widening and looking fearful, then looking away. "Woah, uhh, I didn't know you even thought about that. Do you, uh, want to talk about it?"

"NO! Dust no! I've been trying to get you to stop this whole conversation!"

"So, you just said that to get me to stop? Because it threw me for a loop but... it is kinda hot, I guess. I mean, you're hot, and I'm hot, and he's hot, so we'd have to be hot all together, right?"

"Yang! Wait, would you really consider that?"

"No, just messing with you." Blake sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay. Can we just... not talk about this?"

"You brought it up. I mean the threesome. I mean the threesome with me and Blanc. Oh dust, I'm not sure I can get it out of my head now." Blake looked over angrily at the girl, who she thought was teasing her. "This isn't funny."

"Okay, sorry. I just... whenever I have trouble dealing with something, I have like, two settings, right? There's make a joke out of it Yang, and punch it until it bleeds Yang. And I'm really trying to change away from punching, so..."

Blake turned to her. "Okay, listen. I really don't want to talk about this, but if we're going to, I want you to be serious and stop making everything into a joke, okay? You're right, I do need to get laid, but I don't want to do that with anyone I'm not comfortable with, and everyone I'm comfortable with is already taken."

"So... have you done that sort of thing before?" Blake looked at her out of the side of her eyes, face forward in the direction they were walking, toward the setting sun. "I mean, been with a guy and a girl at the same time. Or even just a girl... I mean I never... nevermind."

Blake, seeing her time to tease back, turned to Yang with a sly grin. "Why, are you interested in finding out what it's like?" Yang didn't turn toward her. "Um, maybe? I haven't been with Blanc very long and we've never talked about this sort of thing. Is this weird? This is weird, right? I shouldn't be thinking about this." Blake decided not to tease, and wait instead. She'd found that often by staying quiet, people would talk just to fill the void, and Yang was one of those people. "I mean, would that be cheating? And how would I even bring that up? Oh, hey Blanc. I know we haven't been dating long, but I kinda wanted to experiment and see what it was like to kiss Blake. And then we decided we'd share you. You good with that? I mean, it's beyond strange."

"How did I get involved with this?" Yang looked at her like she was stupid. "Blake... don't play dumb."

"Yang, I... I don't understand what you mean." Yang reached forward, grabbed Blake by the back of her head, and pulled her into a kiss. At first, it was tentative, lips barely touching with a sleight feeling of breath across them, causing the feline faunus to lick her lips, and consequently Yang's. The taste was... Blake pressed forward, her tongue slipping into Yang's mouth, left arm wrapping around the blonde bombshell, but the right sliding down Yang's stomach and into..."

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty. I thought you were just going to take a cat nap. Get it? Cat. Nap!"

Blake was groggy, the sun coming up through the window in Yang's room and onto the bed they'd been sharing.

"By the way, Blakey, next time you want to cop a feel, ask first, okay?"

Blake quickly retracted her sleepy hand, which had been unconsciously groping her best friend's breast. "Uh, I'm sorry."

Yang laughed. "It's no big deal. I kinda thought you were Blanc when I woke up at first. Come on, let's go see if we're up first." Yang slipped out of the bed, tight tank top and short-shorts clinging to her, and Blake rolled away and groaned, the sun coming into her eyes. She heard the sound of drawers opening and closing. "I put some clean clothes that should fit you okay on top of the dresser. Do you want to shower first?" Blake waved her off, and Yang slipped out of the room to go to the shower herself. Once she heard what she thought was the shower noise, she slipped her hand down the front of her kimono, softly stroking herself, unable to get he image out of her mind. She heard the noise of other people waking up, and deciding she didn't want to risk someone else coming in to wake her and discovering what she was doing, so she pulled her hand out, slipping her fingers into her mouth, one at a time.

"I've got to do something about this..." Maybe her dream-Yang's idea about a fling on Patch wasn't such a bad idea.

* * *

Patch nightlife was tame, even by Valesian standards. The all-ages club was mostly full of people from Signal, and though the oldest would be of legal age, she couldn't really relate to them, and other than a quickie that would leave her hating herself, she couldn't think of a way to satisfy her itch without revealing her faunus heritage. One hand through her hair and they'd feel one of her feline ears. There were a few faunus openly in the club, but they were younger and immature. Worse, the only thing actually catching her eye was Yang, who seemed to stick by her all the time, and was reserving all her dances for Blake.

And Yang's dancing was overtly sexual and sensual. Fast and fun, with a giant smile on her face, Yang had no idea what ideas and feeling she was putting into the dark haired beauty every time she pushed her ass back into Blake, or bumped her chest into her. Yang had decided that while Blanc would probably be okay with some dancing, she didn't want to tease any of the boys, and she certainly wasn't going to give them even a kiss. Blake did dance with a few guys who asked her, but mostly turned them down, claiming she needed to keep her friend company.

Overall it was a good time but left her mostly frustrated. Ruby seemed to be a bit less awkward but mostly spent her time talking to what were likely her friends from Signal, and making eyes at some guy with green and blue dyed hair. Yang explained that she thought Ruby'd had a crush on him, but expected that to go away when she left for Beacon. Weiss was cold, flatly turning down anyone who asked her to dance, and spent her time going between Ruby and the bar, whining about the band she had to wear in order to buy alcoholic drinks. "Obviously I look too mature to be underage. And this yellow band totally clashes with my ensemble."

All told, each of them had admirers interested in them. When Ruby wasn't looking, she'd catch the same guy looking back at her, but he never once approached the girl, nor she him. Yang thought it was hilarious, but pointless to get involved, because Ruby would be going back to Beacon and she'd kill that boy if he so much as touched her baby sister. They left before anyone got tipsy, though Yang had a bit of a buzz.

That night, laying in bed with Yang, who'd flopped down with just her tanktop and panties on, Blake was incredibly frustrated. Yang was snoring away, drooling on her pillow and more unconscious than asleep, fatigue and a bit of alcohol getting to her. The room was dark, though for Blake it made little difference; the cracked moon's light bathed the wood in a soft light that Blake could read by if she wished, but Blake couldn't take her eyes off her friend's posterior, clad in thong underwear.

"I can't believe this." She reached out, trying to pull the blanket up to cover herself and her friend, but she only succeeded in making Yang shift one leg toward her, bent at the knee and her waist, exposing more creamy thigh to Blake's eyes. She groaned and got up, walked around the bed, and lifted Yang's other leg, putting it under the comforter so that she could cover the blonde up, then groaned again. Yang's arm was trapped underneath her where she'd fallen, her hand between her legs, her finger directly on... Yang was asleep, it was unconscious movement, but Blake's eyes couldn't help themselves as she watched her friend, who'd somehow pulled the gusset aside while asleep and was fingering herself to a dream.

Blake quickly threw the comforter over her, then slipped back around the bed, unsure how she'd ever sleep now that she'd seen Yang. After a few minutes, or maybe hours, it seemed like Yang had shifted again, turning toward her, and freeing her arm. Blake never wished more to be a normal human than that moment, when Yang's hand, that had been between her thighs, instead flew up onto the pillow, right next to Blake's head. "Dust, save me." She reached over to lift Yang's arm and move it, the scent on her fingers too strong to ignore at that distance, when Yang grabbed her arm and pulled her over, pulling the faunus girl into her back, trapping her arm against Yang's chest, her hand put on Yang's breast. Yang mumbled in her sleep, and Blake recognized none of it, save perhaps what might have been Blanc's name. Blake prayed to die to save herself the embarrassment, but Yang did not let go, and eventually fatigue did settle in, and she fell asleep, the scent of Yang's shampoo finally drowning out the sent of Yang's excretions.

* * *

Note: This is one of the longer chapters so far, with no action, and mostly exposition. I'm trying to set some things up here, some for the plot, and some because it's the way the characters seem to be flowing in this story for me. The last part, with Blake, is important despite it looking like it's unnecessary. If you enjoyed it, I'm happy you did, but if it bothered you, I'm sorry, but it's still necessary for the storyline. I don't want to explain why, because that would spoil things a bit.

Plenty of you are reading this, but no one is writing any reviews or comments. I could take that poorly, or throw a childish fit, but I'm going to take it as approval. I am hoping to get back to some action soon, but it'll depend on how the flow goes, and I didn't want to keep holding off on this while the chapter got bigger and bigger.

For those of you interested, I am still planning on taking this through the end of volume 3, with respect to time. Depending on what comes in volume 5, I'll take or leave parts of that to form into this story, but this was AU from the beginning and I think it's doubtful I'll be able to keep everything intact and cohesive with canon, given I don't now and can only guess at large portions of it.

I had to do a rewrite to correct some mistakes, and there's a good chance I missed one. I wrote this chapter with the idea that Amber was the oldest Arc sibling, and then discovered I'd already made her third oldest in a previous chapter. Too late to fix it, despite the chapter flowing better the way it was written, I went back and tried to write it with Amber being third. I think I got all the references, but please let me know if I screwed up.

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoyed it.

And that no one sprained their wrist on that last section. It's a bit more... explicit than I've been in the past in this story. And if anyone's questioning the reality, I've had a similar situation happen to me in the past (with me in the place of Blake, and the woman I eventually married in the place of Yang). It can and does happen in real life.


	42. Chapter 42

**Bastion, late afternoon**

Amber checked him fairly thoroughly, though she was the consummate professional while doing so. The Arc family had waited outside; Jaune catching up with a few friends who happened to be in town at the time from their own farms, or who lived directly in the small cummunity, and introducing Pyrrha, who relished in her anonymity as the only place in town to watch vids was the local pub, and Jaune's friends had been too young to get in to see her matches. Some of the locals had seen them, however, but seemed reluctant to approach.

Jaune had explained it; the original settlers had come here seeking to avoid Vale, starting a new community with his great grandfather after the color war. Most of them had roots in the Valesian military and had left with the man when he'd made his way out into the wilderness to start again, and forget about the horrible deeds they'd done for their country. While none of those original settlers remained, their children had been raised to respect the privacy of others, and so Bastion and it's surrounding area were full of people who had a predilection toward keeping out of other people's business. That alone made Pyrrha feel like Bastion would be a good place to settle down, but that what she hoped would one day be her in-laws lived here also made Bastion feel more like home than Mistral had over the last few years.

Inside, Blanc was getting dressed. He'd worn one of those hospital gowns on the way to Bastion, which was humiliating, and then he'd had to have his wound examined, among a number of other things. It didn't help that he had no underwear; somewhere along the lines he'd lost control of his bodily functions and the clinic at the depot had thrown them out. While he was being examined, Grise had obtained some clothing from a local general goods store that would be a decent fit until they could get him back to their farm, and he could borrow some of Jaune's old cloths. Pyrrha would likely have to wear some of the sister's clothing; Amber was taller and had broader shoulders, but Noisette's clothes would probably fit well, though her style was definitely more revealing than the clothes Pyrrha was wearing with her armor; mostly crop tops, short skirts or long skirts with a slit almost entirely up the leg, lots of sheer fabrics. She'd even seen her brunette sister in a sweater that was just long enough to be a sweater dress, but dipped so low in the back you could see the crack of her ass, and didn't cover the sides of her breasts. Noisette had called it a 'virgin-killer'. It'd certainly caused their father's blood pressure to rise, but it was Grise who'd forbidden her from wearing it in public. Amber knew for a fact it was in the woman's closet; she'd put it back herself after using it.

On Amber it did not reach down far enough to be a sweater dress, but it also didn't show the crack of her ass from the top. The sex had been... interesting.

Blanc wore a simple white t-shirt with a crew collar, and blue denim. His socks and shoes had been recoverable, though there were spots of blood on the boots.

"Mr. Arc, you appear to be in good health and recovering nicely, but there are ... well there are anomalies in your records from the clinic. Jaune reports administering CPR and being unable to revive you, and then you just started breathing on your own again. Blanc, I'm pretty sure you died on that train."

He wouldn't look at her. "So I'm okay to go then?"

"You voided your bowels, Blanc. That happens when people die."

He didn't turn. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, was there a light at the end of the tunnel? I feel like you should be more concerned about this. Maybe you ought to consider a safer profession? As a doctor, you can tell me anything and be certain I'll keep it confidential."

At that he did turn and look her in the eye, and she stepped back, startled at the heated and angry stare. "Am I free to go? You said I am in good health." She started to speak, but he rose, walking out of the room. She followed quickly, but he stopped at the counter on the way out next to the receptionist.

"Mr. Arc, we weren't finished."

"I think we were. I'd like to pay my bill now."

"There's no charge for..."

He interupted her. "I can afford to pay my bills." Looking down at the nametag on the young woman at the desk, caught between the patient and her boss and looking frightened and unsure, he read Maureen. "Maureen, if you'll just tell me how much I owe."

"Mr. Arc, I must insist we finish our consultation."

"Very well, send me the bill." Blanc turned and walked out.

Maureen looked up at her boss. "Well, he's as stubborn as your brother." Amber sighed, unable to keep him from leaving and unsure it was safe to have someone like him around her family, but unable to do anything about it.

Outside, Blanc joined Jaune and Pyrrha, and was quickly introduced. The strange looks on his friend's faces as they looked back and forth between the two men made things awkward, so Blanc said his greeting and left to find the elder Arcs, who were buying more supplies before heading back to the farm. The town's general good store was not large, though it was the biggest building in town besides what had been an old lumber mill and the local school building on the opposite side of the community.

The area fascinated him in an odd way; he'd become more and more familiar with his father since returning to the past, from the horrible first impression to recognizing the core of the man his father would become and being proud to be his son. He wanted to see where Jaune had been raised, gone to school, played and worked. He wanted to understand what had made his father, both his family and his community, and he had only the shortest of times to do it. Despite his hope for another solution, he did not think his chances were very great.

He'd died. In that moment, when his vision was darkening, and he saw his father and Pyrrha come to his rescue, he'd known he was dying. Pyrrha had saved him; she'd used the power somehow, forced it back and made it restore him. He hadn't known it could do that; he doubted anyone did. Even now he could feel it's longing to return to her, which unfortunately for him messed with his emotions badly. He knew he loved Yang and desired her, but every moment he spent near Pyrrha, he felt this pull toward her. It wasn't the pull he felt toward Ruby, that of a child to parent, but something more needy. He'd have thought it was lust, or perhaps love and admiration, if he didn't know his own feelings. This power, whatever it was, had a fierce desire for her, and it bled over into him.

It wasn't difficult to resist; Pyrrha knew how to tease, and sometimes did, but her focus had been on Jaune more and more, and she'd never been expressive of other interests while in his presence, even when they'd at times been alone. There was a strange awkwardness between them now, some sort of intimacy that felt wrong to him, and if he had to guess, she felt it too. Something had happened when he died on that train and she brought him back; some part of them exchanged with each other.

He entered the store. Clothing displays took up a lot of space, though there was a counter for ordering things like feed, lumber and other building supplies, a display for tools and weapons common to farmers, and all sorts of other things. Most things, as it turned out, were ordered by catalog, shipped to the Depot, then picked up from there, either by the farmer, or by staff of the store, for a fee of course. Marron Arc stood at the counter for building supplies, while his wife weaved her way through the clothing, putting things into a basket or draping them across her arm. She saw him and smiled, waving him over. He picked up a tan duster. It wasn't a good enough quality to let him glide, even if he had the right material to make it stiffen at the edges, but he liked the style, and perhaps he could sew some pockets in it and replace the reinforced ceramic plates. But not until he got back to Beacon and could use the nanolathe, and then he may as well just use the correct fabric as well. He folded it back up and put it back.

Across the road, looking at the store from the front of a cafe that became a pub in the evening, Igara watched her target. He appeared to be in full health, but he'd looked right at her, and past her, so she was certain he did not recognize her in any way. None of the others here could have seen her either. She took a sip from her coffee and continued to watch them, looking for a potential opening on how to get at the target, but the town was small and relatively open; there would be no place to make a quick and quiet attack, and too many witnesses and the presence of at least a few hunters. Best to figure out where he was going, and either attack him on the way, or more likely, attack him at night. Like any faunus, she had great night vision.

Figuring out where he was going wasn't difficult, and as it turned out neither was getting up to Bastion. Transport between Bastion and the Depot occurred regularly; In fact there was a daily shuttle between the two for just such a purpose. Grimm attacks were rare, given the low population density, and while the farmers did protect themselves, there was no scroll access in the surrounding community. The only reason any existed in the town was the boasted receiver sending a line-of-sight signal from the Depot to the town pub. Her bullhead was at the depot, being repaired. Hopefully the mechanic wouldn't look too closely or her story about a flight of Nevermore attacking wouldn't hold up, and she'd have to kill him. She was waiting on his call to tell her how much the repair was going to cost, and how soon it would be completed, and then she'd plan her move on the target. But in the meantime, she had to know where her target was, and not be discovered.

On the Northern edge of the small town, Winter Schnee's craft had landed. She'd setup a relay for her scroll from the ship using it's expensive line-of-sight connection to the Depot, but that only worked while she was in the air, so now she was sitting at a table in the local cafe, waiting on a call to let her know when the Arcs had returned to Bastion. The town was small, even by comparison to most frontier towns, but the area was relatively well protected from grimm and provided a good source of food and lumber for Vale. The cafe wasn't bad, as these things went, but she was used to more metropolitan fair, and longed to return to Atlas.

A faunus sat nearby, outside rather than indoors, and Winter noticed her because of the extent of her animal features. While some faunus had blaring feature changes that were difficult to hide, this faunus had claws, which was very unusual. It wasn't the only faunus she'd seen in the small town, but something about this one struck Winter as unusual. She noticed it's gaze, watching something or someone across the street, in the general good store, and then she spotted the white hair she'd been looking for.

He was striking, even at this distance. The hair looked the color of her own, a pure white rather than a light blonde, but not thin and showing his scalp like that which came with age. He was muscular, though poorly dressed, and he seemed to be talking to an older silver haired woman of some beauty, who appeared to be buying clothing. The woman went over to join a large blonde man, reaching up and kissing him lightly, and Winter deduced that these were the elder Arcs. Finishing her tea, she rose, throwing more than enough lien onto the table to cover her bill, and strode out toward the store.

* * *

 **Patch Island, Xiao Long home**

Sharing a bed with Weiss felt strange to Ruby. It wasn't exactly unpleasant; Weiss didn't smell bad, and she was a sound sleeper and didn't thrash. Still, She'd never really shared her bed with a friend before, and between the strange vibes she'd gotten from Weiss at the dance club, and getting worked up over Oranjelo - who names their kid Orange Yellow anyway? She'd had an interesting evening. Puberty sucked, in her not so humble opinion.

The smell of her father's breakfast cooking wafted into her nose, and she could feel stirring of her bedmate. Weiss would pretend she was used to finer fare, but Ruby could tell, Weiss loved her father's cooking. She had to admit, he was pretty good. Nora might think Ren's pancakes were divine, but Taiyang Xiao Long was king of the breakfast arena.

Only, he wasn't really her father. But he'd been there, raised her... been everything that a father was supposed to be. Didn't that count for something? Uncle... Qrow was cool, and funny without being full of dumb dad-jokes and puns like Yang. It was a wonder she hadn't figured it out earlier. Sure, with the photograph she had of her mother, the resemblance was undeniable, but she had some of Qrow's features, and nothing of the blonde hunter in the kitchen below. She looked nothing like him; how had they never figured that out? Maybe the didn't want to figure it out, she thought to herself.

The covers rustled, and she felt Weiss sit up and put her legs over the edge of the bed, pausing, likely to look at her to see if she was asleep. Ruby kept her breathing steady, eyes closed, and waited.

"Oh Ruby, what will I ever do with you?"

She felt her friend lean down, and over her. Why would she do that? Breath, on the side of her hair, and her ear. "Ruby?" A gentle whisper, a thrill through her body that caused an involuntary shudder. "Faker." To Ruby, it felt like what she imagined a lover's whisper might feel like, gently blowing across her ear and then the nape of her neck as Weiss pulled back.

"Come on, get up then. Your... your father is cooking, and it smells more than adequate." High praise indeed from the stuck-up heiress. Then, a knock on the door, and Ruby stopped pretending.

"Yeah?"

"Yang says last one down has to clean the dishes after. Better get up!" Blake's voice drifted off as she walked away from the door, and Ruby threw back the covers and leapt out of the bed.

"About time you stopped pretending. And I'm not washing any dishes; don't you have a dish butler?"

Ruby turned toward the white haired elfin girl. "We don't have any kind of butler, Weiss. And who has a dish butler?" Weiss giggled behind her fist, a queer sound to Ruby, and the reaper realized she'd been had. "Oh, very funny."

Weiss pulled off her pajama top, then pushed down the bottom, and Ruby's breath stopped. Weiss had never changed in her presence before, but the sight of the slim girl, wearing just small panties, cut high on the waist and... dust almighty!

Weiss looked over her shoulder at her, then turned around, revealing her chest. "Are you going to keep ogling me, or are you going to get dressed." Ruby gulped, then turned to her dresser and began to search for clothes for the day, hearing Weiss do the same from her bags. Well, at least her chest was bigger than Weiss'. Who'd had hardened nipples. And it wasn't cold, in the least. Ruby turned around, still in her pajamas, some shorts and a t-shirt with the band logo 'Dust-muffins' on it. Weiss was bent over, pulling up some white slacks. Ruby stopped for a moment, watching her friend's body move, then laid the clothes on her bed and stripped off her own top.

Weiss watched her and pulled a Schnee logo polo shirt on. She wasn't even trying to hide it, nor did she seem embarrassed to be looking at Ruby's chest. Maybe Ruby was making too much out of this.

"Oh, of course. You're 15 but you're still bigger than me. Just great." Ruby giggled, and Weiss turned and walked out the door after Ruby had her shirt pulled on. "Well, I guess this means you're washing the dishes."

Crap.

* * *

 **Bastion General Seed and Supply, early afternoon**

It was impossible not to notice her; she attracted attention wherever she went. Must've made any sort of espionage impossible for her, he thought to himself. She strode across the unpaved street from the cafe across the road, her eyes on him the entire time. She was breathtakingly beautiful, in that sort of perfection that a snowflake would have, but the look on her face seemed equally icy and unpleasant.

Of course he wasn't the only one to notice her. Jaune's mother had turned her head to watch as well, though her husband didn't, turning back from his wife to the clerk at the counter instead. As the white-haired woman he knew to be his aunt Winter entered the store, the bell above the door chimed, and another clerk began speaking to her immediately. "How may I be of service?" She paused for a moment, then dismissed him without a word, rudely turning from the man and walking over to him instead. Her boots made a scraping noise on the wooden floorboards.

"Blanc Arc, I presume?" He nodded, his eyes looking into her own and pointedly not looking down at the rest of her. He loved Yang, but he was still a hormone filled teenager in body. "Very well then, it's time we left. This town is not secure and I've been ordered to retrieve you by General Ironwood."

Grise Arc choose that moment to speak up. "And just who might you be to take him from here? Blanc is with us."

Winter reached forward, grabbing his arm, the way a mother would a wayward child, just above his wrist, and tried to pull him away. Her grip was strong, almost painful, and she was not a weak woman, but Blanc didn't move. "Excuse me, miss, but you need to let go of my arm." He'd decided it was best to pretend he didn't know who she was than try to explain why he did. Weiss may be recognizable by the public because of her performances, but Winter, despite being the eldest Schnee child, was not. She didn't bother to turn, just pulled harder, then finally releasing him and turning.

"We need to leave. Now. You are in danger here!"

"Yeah, I know, but I'm still not leaving with someone I don't even know, no matter what she looks like."

Winter paused, realizing that in her haste she'd made a faux pas. "Yes, my apologies. I'm Winter Schnee of the Atlas Military, and I've been ordered to escort you to safety by General Ironwood. Please, come with me."

He nodded at her. "Not yet, I won't. I believe you're who you say you are, but that doesn't give you the right to grab me and make me leave with you. I'm here to see my friend and his family, and that's what I'm going to do."

"And if you should be killed? What am I supposed to do, be your bodyguard? Do you know who I am?"

He chuckled. "Well, you did say your name was Winter. Look, you can come with us, or you can leave by yourself, but I'm not leaving yet. Not unless Mr. or Mrs. Arc tells me I'm unwelcome in their home." Fat chance of that, he knew.

"Blanc, you're more than welcome to stay with us. Any of Jaune's friends are." She turned toward the white-haired beauty. "Ms. Schnee, you're welcome to join us as well. I imagine you flew in on a bullhead or some other transport. Let me give you our home's coordinates and you can fly there to meet us."

Winter turned to look at the woman, angry but a bit more contrite, realizing that unless she wanted to use force, she couldn't make the boy come with her. "Very well, if you insist. Why don't we all fly there instead? There's enough room for the four of us."

Marron spoke out then. "I'm afraid there are a few more than four, plus we have all of these goods to transport. We don't come into town frequently; Gris my love, why don't you and the others take her up on her offer, and I'll bring the transport back with our supplies." His wife turned and smiled at him.

"That sounds like a good idea. I can get started on dinner then, and have it ready by the time you arrive." She walked back to him at the counter, stretching up, and kissed him again.

Having reached an agreement, the matriarch of the Arc family left the clothes she'd planned to purchase for their guests with her husband, then turned to leave with Blanc and Winter, noticing a slight resemblance, not just in hair color and skin tone, but some facial features as well. It was much more subtle than the similarities the boy shared with her own son. She thought it quite strange; could Blanc somehow be related to this woman?

It didn't take long to find Jaune and Pyrrha, who said goodbye to his friends and joined them. Amber Arc would come by later on her own; she needed to keep her transport with her so that she could make emergency calls, but this was going to be a reunion, of sorts, and she didn't want to miss it either.

Winter's ship was not a bullhead, but rather a customized dust yacht. It wasn't intended to ferry supplies or troops like a bullhead, but it was larger, faster, and more comfortable. Jaune took another sugar pill, having somehow retained them through everything and still believing them to cure airsickness, and climbed aboard after the others. The initial passage was narrow, but once in the belly of the vessel, it was much more roomy. Directly after the passage was some sort of transit room, containing various gear, coats, and boots. There were lockers which appeared to have biometric locks, possibly containing weapons or dust. Just past that was what could only be described as a cozy living room area; warmly lit with small windows along the roof for sunlight, and lamps to provide additional lighting as necessary. It had a large dark brown leather couch to one side, and a pair of matching chairs across from it. Recessed into the floor was a coffee table that deployed when Winter pressed a control near other end of the room. Past that was another narrow passage that lead to a pair of bedrooms, a spiral stairwell into the lower half of the ship, and the cockpit of the vessel on the fair side. The ship was larger than it appeared at a distance, owing to it's sleek outside appearance and diminished profile, but there was plenty of room inside, though it would not due to carry cargo or other material quickly.

Winter asked Gris to help guide her to their home, and bid the others make themselves comfortable in the lounge, as she called it. Pyrrha and Jaune snuggled up on the couch, waiting long enough for Winter and Gris to disappear up front before beginning to make out. Blanc sat in a seat across from them, making fake coughing noises, but they ignored him, and finally he gave up, sighing and attempting to look away.

His eyes constantly wandered back to Pyrrha, however, and when they did, he usually found her looking back at him, somehow. It was uncomfortable, yet the pair didn't stop. Jaune seemed oblivious, but Blanc felt that Pyrrha was doing it intentionally, as if to prove something to herself or to him. He wasn't sure what was worse, that she felt the need to do that, or that he felt like perhaps she was right.

* * *

 **Arc Family Homestead and Farm, late afternoon**

The flight had been uneventful, and when Grise reappeared as they prepared to lift off, the necking between the couple ended, and polite small-talk began. There was going to be a large meal that evening, and Grise needed time to prepare, though the daughters at home should be at work on it already, having been warned ahead of time via short-wave radio when Amber had driven close enough to Bastion to reach them. Not all of Jaune's sisters would be there; no one had heard from Noisette, and as expected Verdoyant wouldn't be able to attend, though Azure was there, watching over her younger sisters with Verte and helping on the farm between missions. Her team was based out of the Depot area, and happened to have been up near Bastion when her parents had rushed down to retrieve their only son.

The sisters had indeed been busy preparing, though they'd met the traveling group outside after Winter landed her yacht. Fortunately there was room, as Azure's team had taken the bullhead they were leasing down to the depot, so the landing area at the farm was open. Farms around Bastion and other small communities like it generally had a flat patch of land, cleared of underbrush and grass, sometimes paved or covered in gravel, for the sole purpose of allowing bullhead landings, as the aircraft were typically the most frequently used for transporting people and supplies or equipment. Jaune's father maintained another land rover like Amber's, and often drove it to and from town, because they were cheap to fuel, maintain, and most importantly, purchase. Bullheads were usually leased, even by hunters, though older models would be bought after their lease was up if the team was successful. Farmers and other businessmen often bought them this way as well. Military surplus helped the surrounding communities outside the kingdom's protective walls survive, and at the same time, allowed them to produce the raw material the kingdoms needed. There was little room in Vale for farming, after all.

Unexpectedly, however, a young woman with rich, honey colored hair had been there to greet them as well. Noisette's latest beau had taken up with another, probably because she herself had decided to try out a dancer or two on his entourage, so rather than continue with him to Vacuo she'd returned home. She'd immediately taken a liking to her brother's male friend. Her pass had been so overt that Blanc had thought it was a joke, though when she had grabbed his arm and held it tightly against her chest, she caused her sisters to simultaneously roll their eyes at Blanc's bright red face. Pyrrha saved him by asking if she could borrow some clothes, to which the girl could not help but squeal. Unlike the rest of her family, she recognized Pyrrha instantly, though she'd had enough brushes with the rich and famous to not be a pest about it. But now she'd get to play dress-up with The Pyrrha Nikos, Mistral Champion four times running, and her brother's girlfriend. It was as close to putting Juane in pigtails and a dress as she was going to get now that he was so much larger than her. The two took off, Noisette dragging the champion, who looked a bit reluctant.

"You owe her. You know that, don't you?" Juane came up to his son's side, talking out of the side of his mouth.

"Yeah, I do. What's up with your sisters, anyway? One follows me into the bathroom and grabs my junk, and the other is stripping me with her eyes and getting possessive of my arm."

"Amber is a doctor, she was just being professional. And you heard her - Noisette is between guys at the moment." At Blanc's blank look, he continued. "She's going to look to latch onto someone and she's already tried just about anyone in the area that'd interest her. It's never serious but you need to tell her about Yang. She'll back off." What went unsaid was the family relationship between them; neither woman knew that this was their nephew they were molesting.

Lapiz and Safran were delightful. Both were young teenagers, though Lapiz was perhaps Ruby's age based on her build. They were playful, but they didn't jump on him or any of the other childish behavior he'd expected, not knowing their ages. They giggled to themselves and wandered off together, likely to get into trouble.

Grise had already joined Azure back in the kitchen, so Blanc and Jaune waited for Winter to join them. "Blanc... have you noticed something going on with Pyrhha?"

Blanc didn't look over at his father. "Other than you guys constantly sucking face in front of me you mean?" Blanc looked over out of the corner of his eye then, but Jaune was facing away from him.

"Yeah. I mean, she's a bit more affectionate but not really much more. I mean, you saw us on the bullhead. Thanks for going up front, by the way. It's just... well she seems to get more affectionate when you're there, which feels weird. She didn't do more than hold my hand back in Bastion while talking to my old friends from school, but once it's just us three in there". He pointed back at the yacht, up into the aircraft "She's all into it."

Blanc smirked and turned to his father. "I didn't see you objecting then, even when I did. I mean, I'm all for you two having your happily ever after, but do I have to see it up front and in person?"

"You better not have left any bodily fluids on my lounge, boy." Winter had joined them, silently exiting the aircraft. Jaune stood there, face red and mouth open to speak, but saying nothing. "You may speak." His jaw snapped shut.

Blanc spoke for him. "I don't think you need to worry about that, Ms. Schnee. Just a bit of teasing on my part."

She nodded back, head high and nose upturned. "Very well. Please see that it stays that way." They expected her to walk away, but she stood there between them, nose in the air.

Blanc coughed, and when she still didn't move, he turned toward the white haired woman. "Aren't you going to go in?"

She looked him in the eye. "Of course. I will when you do as well. My orders are to extract you safely, and I can't do that if I'm not where you are." Jaune was snickering. She lost some of her haughtiness and leaned into him, speaking quietly. "I know this is awkward, but if you insist on being here, this is the only way I can accomplish my mission."

"I am a hunter in training - not exactly incapable of defending myself."

"Yes. And how did that work out for you on your way here?" she snidely reminded him. He said nothing, listening to Jaune's snort as he tried to hold back a laugh he couldn't control, then turned and walked away toward the house. She followed, and then Jaune, who's snort had died when he caught sight of her backside.

* * *

Pyrrha was upstairs, uncomfortable at being fauned over by Jaune's sister, who was laying out clothes for her that she would be mortified to be seen in. She looked out the window, and saw Blanc, followed by Winter, and then her Jaune, coming toward the house. Turning toward Noisette, she smiled uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, but I just don't see myself in these things."

The Arc woman smirked, holding up a top to the champion. It was green, not quite the color of Pyrrha's eyes but close, slit up the middle over the navel, sheer with a band of thicker material that would cover the breasts themselves, or at least the areola on them. The gossamer fabric that made up the rest was a sleeveless blouse which went over the shoulders and around the back, and the slit would easily separate and cause the fabric to part, showing her navel, while the fabric would make reveal much more of her breasts than she was comfortable with. The band was supposed to support the breasts so that a bra wasn't needed with it, like the bustier in her armor did, at least in ultimate function. Her armor made her feel more secure, while this would leave her feeling naked.

"Come on, live a little! I know Jaune would love to see you in this."

"Perhaps, but everyone else would see me as well. Do you really wear these things?" That earned her a queer look.

"Pyrrha, this is actually older fashion. I guess you don't get out much, do you?" The redhead nodded, shyly. "It's okay. Look, you don't have to wear anything you don't want to wear." She pointed over at a long black skirt, slit up the side to the waistband. "Why don't you put these on and check yourself out in the mirror. Just the two of us here; no witnesses."

Despite being uncomfortable, Pyrrha complied. She had quite a bit more muscle definition than Jaune's sister, but as she gazed at herself in the mirror, she could objectively say that she looked good. The skirt itself was a bit flirtatious without being overly revealing; the fabric was heavier and while it did part it didn't float the way the blouse did. She turned, then spun to watch the clothing flair outward. As expected, the blouse lifted up revealing the bared bottom of her breasts, but the skirt quickly settled back into place, showing a bit of leg but nothing she wasn't comfortable with.

"You look spectacular. Of course, I bet you could make a brown paper bag look special, and I can see that you don't like the blouse, but you like that skirt, right?" The redhead nodded. "Well then, take it. Before you object, I have plenty of clothes that I brought back with me and I don't typically wear much of the stuff I leave behind. I really leave it for Amber. It's not the right size but I know she liked to put it on. So, how about trying this on?" Noisette handed her a grey sleeveless sweater. Pyrrha turned it around; there was no back to it, except at the very bottom, which would be quite low.

"What exactly is this?"

"It's a sweater dress. You don't wear it with a skirt or pants or anything. Well, you wear underwear... maybe." Pyrrha looked scandalized. "Oh come on, try it on."

Pyrrha slipped off the blouse, and pulled on the sweater dress, and then slipped the skirt back down her legs. The dress hung low on her, and provided no support for her admittedly large breasts. As she looked in the mirror, turning to the side, she could see that the way it hung revealed the side of her breasts as well, and then in the back, the upper part of her ass was visible, including the cleft between her cheeks. "This is obscene. You'd wear this in public?"

Noisette snickered. "Oh, no. I freaked my parents out once making them think I would, though. No, I would only wear it when I wanted to have sex, and we were alone. I'm pretty sure Amber's done the same thing with it. That's really what it's for - they call it a Virgin Killer sweater. I was dating this guy, shy like you. We'd been going out for a while, and I was ready to take it to the next level, if you know what I mean, but he was constantly waving me off. Turns out he'd never had sex before. Well, that cured his reluctance problem. Pretty good for a neophyte too. But he went off to Atlas Tech to study dust engineering, and I didn't follow him. Maybe I should look him up - see if he came back. He was great in the sack, especially once he had some experience."

Pyrrha looked shocked, but Noisette just smiled. "When you're ready, you're perfectly welcome to use it with Jaune."

"You're encouraging me to have sex with your brother?"

The honey haired seductress laughed. "Well, not in front of me, but I'm surprised you aren't already. I've heard the stories about huntresses, and I heard mom warn my sisters about what Aura does to a woman's libido. What, are you repressed or something?"

Pyrrha's face warmed as she turned back to the mirror, looking at herself in the grey wool, pulling the sides of it across her breasts and releasing it. "No, I'm Mistralian."

"Oh, so you two are doing butt-stuff then?" Pyrrha quickly turned back to the girl. "Hey, I've dated some Mistrailian men and spent a lot of time around Mistral lately. I know how your culture goes about things and the customs regarding virginity. Don't be so surprised." Pyrrha quickly took off the sweater, and picked up a t-shirt and jeans that Noisette had set out first. "Oh, and just so you know? Mom will definitely know too." Pyrrha stopped, having put one leg through the denim pants and midway through slipping in the other, but as a testament to her abilities, keeping her balance. She was bent over, and Noisette was admiring her from behind. Pyrrha had paled, however, and the flush of embarrassment from earlier quickly disappeared. Noisette saw the loss of her skin's flush and decided against teasing her further. "Don't worry about it. I doubt mom will say anything. She might have to explain to dad how she knows; frankly she'd probably have to explain what it was because I don't think he's ever really even dated anyone but her. Speaking of... what exactly are your intentions with my brother."

That woke Pyrrha up out of her shock. She went back to dressing herself, replying "We're dating. I care for him a great deal, or I would not be taking him to meet my family. This is a serious relationship for me; my first."

"Fair enough. You can't blame me for looking out for my baby brother, though, right?"

"You were just encouraging me to have sex with him."

"Well, I call that looking out for him. Come on, let's go. By the way, what can you tell me about that cute guy you brought with you two?"

Pyrrha's hand slapped her forehead. She didn't understand how they couldn't see the resemblance.

* * *

I'd intended to get to some action but there were some introductions I needed to do, and I couldn't help but put Pyrrha in the uncomfortable situation of trying on clothes from Jaune's vamp of a sister. I also apologize for the delay; I've been sick and busy at work (the latter being a partial cause of the former). I did take a reviewers advise and alter the way I do conversations; it seems less fluid to me but it does seem to be standard practice. I'm not sure where I picked up mixing speakers in a paragraph, but unfortunately a large portion of this story is written that way. Please bear with me; I hope to go back and edit it but that's a lot of extra work, and I'd like to get the story out there.


	43. Chapter 43

**Arc Household Dining Room**

Dinner was an event; dinner was served buffet style, which was evidently normal for when the Arc family were all together. Bastion was close enough to the equator to have mildly warm weather, year round, so the crop cycle was extended. Various dishes of vegetables, tubers, and gords were available, some spicy and some not, some mashed, a few fried, some baked. Every year the Arc family would stock their cellar with canned goods from what they grew to last, so many of the dishes came from good outside of their season, and the meat came from what had been stored in what turned out to be an industrial sized freezer in their cellar.

The house itself was quite large; Marron had added onto it each time a child was born, eventually adding rooms for other things to the point that the structure would likely qualify as a mansion to some, especially as their children aged and left to make their own way. Space and material had been plentiful, and the Arc patriarchs had a knack not just for farming, but also for construction.

The meal had a general murmur of people talking, few conversations at the long table carried well without some sort of formal interruption, but after a time the quality of the food, the hunger of the participants, and the promise of conversation after the meal led the group to quiet down and dig into their dinner, sometimes leaving the table for more, of which there was plenty. The Arcs had prepared plenty of food, far more than they normally would, but by the end of the meal, most of it had been eaten; Jaune volunteered to pack it away, leaving Blanc and Pyrrha to the mercies of the rest of the Arc family present. Winter had excused herself and left; she planned to stay in her transport.

Blanc had been quietly fascinated. Growing up the way he did, he'd had many meals with just his mother and Aunt Ruby, sometimes joined by the various members of their friends who traveled through. He'd met Winter only once, and she'd seemed cold and indifferent, though he could tell she held a warmth for her sister that she did not share with him. Given his mother's behavior, it wasn't very surprising, and Blanc had felt that was just how a Schnee was, secretly glad he was an Arc. The Arc clan, by contrast, was excitable and warm, including him and Pyrrha, and trying to include the taciturn Schnee daughter as well. Winter had appeared uncomfortable, attempting politeness but avoiding being drawn into the conversations around her whenever possible, and had left as soon as she felt it permissible without offense. Blanc had been surprised, given her insistence on tagging along with him everyone before, to the point of standing outside the bathroom door when he wouldn't let her inside with him.

What was it with older women and wanting to join him in the toilet, anyway?

Noisette had nearly continuously flirted with him, but he wasn't sure if she was doing it to tease him, or his father, who seemed to gag and cough. She did time things suspiciously for after Jaune had taken a bite. Pyrrha, who had been sitting on the other side of Jaune from him, kept rubbing his back and whispering into his ear, which seemed to help him ignore her more over the course of the meal, much to Noisette's disappointment, though her flirting didn't let up. Amber was on his other side, snickering at her younger sister's antics, and trying to decide if she should join in, but when she's turn to look at Blanc, she'd remember something and stop. Toward the end of the meal, as she prepared to leave and was saying her goodbyes, she pulled him aside.

"I know I'm being a pest, but we weren't finished, and there's something you really need to understand. Can you come by my office tomorrow? I promise you that it's important."

Blanc was wary, but agreed. "That's fine, but if you're just going to badger me again, you can forget it. I need to call Yang, though, so I'll be in town tomorrow afternoon." With that, she nodded, turned, and left, and Blanc returned to the table as Jaune was clearing off the dishes. Jaune's parents had retired from the table; they were planning on starting a fire outside and creating campfire treats. It was an experience neither Blanc or Pyrhha were familiar with, but it seemed like it would be fun.

The weather was still pleasant due to being so much closer to the equator, like a cool fall evening rather than the winter night it was. Several rectangular blocks of dried and stiff grass were bound up tightly to form seats which surrounded the firepit, which was a shallow hole surrounded by stones. The Arc patriarch tended the fire, adding a log and occasionally fanning it to cause the fire to pick up and spread until he was satisfied with it's size and sustainability for the evening. Grise had come out with a tray containing a sweet cracker, a puffed sugar treat, and chocolate. "Old family recipe." she said with a wink. They were quite good, but a bit too sweet for Blanc and extremely sticky. Jaune had joined Pyrrha after his self-selected chore, bringing out his guitar.

As it turned out, Jaune was a good player with a descent voice, and Pyrrha swooned as he sung to her, entertaining the family, but for once Jaune was confident. "He used to play in a band before he left for Beacon. They were kind of pissed off when he left them; didn't give them any notice he was going either." Noisette had snuck up and sat next to him, whispering in his ear loud enough to hear over Jaune's second song, which was more of a campfire song for his younger sisters.

"I'm a bit surprised. I thought he'd be terrible. I've heard he can dance too." He turned to her, smiling.

Her face lit up in a grin, enthused with the response she was getting. "Oh yeah, too many sisters for him not to be able to do that. I used to make him practice with me for my dance team competitions. I bet one of us has some video of it saved on their scroll - I'll ask around."

"Nice. Good blackmail material."

"Would you like to take a walk? I could show you the farm." She seemed confident, and Blanc suspected the hint of vulnerability was well practiced, but it didn't quite come out in her eyes like it did the rest of her.

"Umm, I'm involved with someone."

"So? It's just a walk. And if you don't tell, I won't."

"Look, Noisette, I'm sorry but..."

He was interupted by a quiet sob, and turning, saw his youngest aunt, Safran, only she wasn't alone. Behind her stood a large woman with features like a big cat, clawed hands, and a claw against the girls throat. Everything stopped; her parents stood and began to move forward, only for the girl to give a cry as the claw pressed further against her, causing pain.

"Now, let's not be hasty. I'm not here for her, or any of the rest of your family. I'm just here to do my job."

Grise answered, reaching behind her back for the dagger she kept there whenever she could. "And what job is that."

Her other claw slowly pointed at him. "Someone's contracted me to dispose of him. No one else needs to be hurt; just let me have the boy." Safran was whimpering, Lapiz, with hair so black it looked blue in the right light, had pressed herself in on her father in fear.

"No. He is in my protective custody." Winter had somehow joined them, sword drawn and pointed at the faunus. "I remember you from the cafe. I should have known, you looked like trouble."

"Tch, you'd say that about any faunus, racist Schnees are all the same."

Blanc tried to calm his aunt; Noisette was turned toward them but hadn't stood, while Jaune had dropped his guitar and Pyrrha had taken a ready stance, unarmed though they were. "Don't worry, Safran. Everything is going to be okay."

"I'm scared."

"I know, it'll be okay. It'll be over in a minute. You're going to see something that will scare you, but you'll be okay, I promise. You believe me, right?. "She nodded. "Okay. Winter, once she's clear, kill the faunus."

The faunus in question looked around; she wasn't quite surrounded, but without a hostage she was going to have to fight Winter Scnee, an Atlas specialist, with nothing but her claws and a small dagger at her back. "I'll kill the little bitch. Come over here and take her place and the rest of them get out of this alive." With her free hand, she opened her jacket, displaying a vest with several sticks of some kind of explosive, a button on a wire now in her hand. Winter's face turned uncertain, and the Arc parents began to show their fear, reflecting in Safran, who began to openly weep.

"Hey! Hey, Safran. Stay with me. I made you a promise, and an Arc..."

She picked up the refrain, sniffling while she said it. "... always keeps their word."

"That's right. You ready? It's almost over. This is just going to be a bit weird, okay?" She nodded.

"Get over here. I'm not going to stand here all night while you figure out how to get out of this."

Two glyphs formed, like clocks, bright in the darkness, the hands spinning backwards at an accelerating pace. The first was on the button connected to the vest, and the second on Safran. The button disappeared, and snarling, Igara slit the girls throat with her claw as she swiftly reached behind her to grab the dagger at her back. Time seemed to slow down as the glyph he'd used to accelerate his mind completed. He could see their reactions, and then the glyph inside him, which wasn't visible outside his body, completed just as the one inside Safran did, and they both disappeared. Igara threw the dagger, but it passed through where he was.

Winter didn't hesitate, charging forward on a glyph and impaling the shocked faunus through her eye. Winter withdrew almost as quickly, and the corpse dropped. Grise ran forward, looking for the body of her precious daughter. Marron started forward as well, slower, but then looked back toward the house, hearing the cries of his child. From the side of the house, Blanc was carrying the girl, who was openly crying and clutching her throat. He ran toward them, and Grise saw him from the corner of her eye, and turned, darting forward as she saw what he did, to check on the precious cargo.

When Marron arrived, the girl in Blanc's arms flung herself forward onto him, babbling about her throat and the pain and being afraid, but when Grise checked her neck after she was soothed, there was no wound.

Then, Noisette screamed. "Mom!" Grise turned to her daughter's scream, and saw Lapiz laying on the ground.

Blanc was kneeling next to her, pulling the dagger from her daughter's chest, but he was also in her peripheral vision for just a moment. The adrenaline in her spiked and she lept to protect her daughter as best she could.

"For it is in service that we become legendary, through this we become a paragon of humility and courage to illuminate all, infinite in time and unbound by eternity, I release your soul, and by my sacrifice protect thee." Blanc was glowing, a white mixing with blue, as Lapiz began to glow as well."

Grise knocked him away from her. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"Mom? He was saving her." The confusion in Noisette's voice was apparent.

"He's condemned her. Now the grimm will always sense her. We won't be able to keep her safe here."

Blanc said nothing, picking himself up off the ground, but Jaune moved to defend his son. "Mom, she was going to die."

Grise broke down crying as the adrenaline finally left her. "I know. I'm sorry. Please, I'm sorry. You've saved my children and look how I've treated you."

Blanc said nothing, the sad look not leaving his face. "I'm sorry too. I didn't know what else to do."

Marron arrived, Safran now walking, though still rubbing her throat and looking up at the white haired man. "Son, not that I'm not grateful for what you did, but I think you owe us an explanation."

"Indeed. Do tell, Mr. Arc." Great, Winter had seen everything.

"Saw that, did you?"

"Yes, and I know what they are supposed to do, and I know that no one has ever been able to make them work, but I just watched you do it four times in a few seconds." The Arc family were confused by curious, though Safran was still troubled.

"Well, I feel better than I've ever felt before." Lapiz jumped up, running around as if on a sugar high. "I feel like I could do anything. Why don't they unlock everyone's aura?"

Grise turned toward her young girl. "Because it condemns you to a life of fighting grimm, among other things." That sobered the girl a bit, but only a bit. Marron wanted to take Safran inside, but the girl insisted on staying, and Blanc agreed, thinking it was best if she understood what had happened to her.

They contacted the local authorities, who promised to send out a coroner's transport as soon as possible, then left the body where it lay in case they wanted to investigate further. To avoid the smell, the group went inside, settling around the Arc's large living room on various couches, chairs, and the fireplace mantel, where Blanc stood in front of them all. "Would you care to tell them about the glyphs, Winter?"

"No, I think this is your show, as it were."

He hesitated, looking to Jaune and Pyrrha, but Jaune looked to still be shocked, and Pyrrha only shrugged.

"Okay, well, ... I'm not sure how to explain this."

"It's usually best to start at the beginning, son. For example, why don't you explain to us why you hold our last name. I know for a fact we are the only Arcs." Marron reserved his glare; the boy had saved two of his daughters only minutes before.

"Well, I was given my name by my mother. She gave me my first name based on her family's traditions, Blanc, a word for white to describe my hair." Winter looked suspicious. "She gave my my father's last name. Jaune's last name."

All eyes turned toward the young man, who gulped and his partially behind his beautiful girlfriend. "Hello again! He's not mine, in case you were wondering."

Grise spoke. "I don't believe he could be Jaune's, either. You must be close to the same age. What sort of stupid story is this? You're going to lie to us now?"

"Well, um... Grandma?" That got him a glare. "Anyway, well that's what the glyphs are about. The reverse time." The room was quiet enough to hear the clock ticking in the background. "Well, what they technically do is distort space time, slowing the flow of time in a particular area, then accelerating a mass through that distortion such that it breaches the speed of light, and then you have to start talking about holes in space time connecting two times and places and... well it's complicated and I sort of have an instinct for it. Am i lying about the glyphs, Winter?"

"No. No you're not. But no one can do them. Our family has had members try since we first began using glyphs and discovered the ability to slow time or speed it up. How? ... who's your mother?"

"Your sister, Weiss. In the future." He then proceeded to tell them the things he'd told Jaune and Pyrrha: about the fall of Beacon and Pyrrha's death, what he knew about the hunt for Cinder, Blanc's conception, and Jaune's sacrifice, and the fall of humanity at the hands of the grimm. Remarkably, no one puked.

"So, she really did cut my throat?"

"Another you, another body. You feel it because your soul was connected to it, but it didn't happen to this body. Sort of like a dream."

"And where did that other body go?"

"It gets absorbed back to rectify the balance. And I have to pay a price to do it; a bit of my own soul."

"So you let it eat your soul to save me?"

He smiled at her. "A gave a bit of my soul to save you and your sister both, and I don't regret it, not even a little bit. You're my aunts!"

"You're weird. This is weird. I'm going to bed." Safran got up, and left.

Winter spoke. "Well, I understand why the general feels its so important to protect you now."

Noisette could be heard mumbling and gagging. Pyrrha leaned over to her, a sadistic grin on her face. "I'm not sure how you couldn't see the resemblance to your brother." With that, Noisette charged off to heave into the toilet.

"You're cruel." Jaune was smiling, however.

Marron leaned to his wife. "See? Do you believe me now?"

She looked skeptical. "It takes a time traveling grandson to convince me you've been faithful? Oh Mar, I always knew, but this is a bit far-fetched, isn't it?"

"Well, you saw it with your own eyes, did you not?" She nodded in response, saying nothing further, but leaning up to kiss him. "If you will excuse us, I believe I have some making up to do." She ignored her children's cries as she dragged her now grinning husband away to their bedroom, which fortunately for the rest was separated from the rest of the bedrooms. Lapiz said her farewells as well, Noisette had not returned, and the other Arc sisters went to check up on their younger siblings.

Winter stood. "I think we should talk more tomorrow, but it is getting late. I think you need to consider leaving with me as soon as possible; there's already been one attack, and we cannot secure this location. You're putting them in danger, Blanc." He nodded. "Does... does Weiss know?"

"Not yet. I'll have to tell her soon, but there's something we have to resolve first. Your father knows, however. We'll talk more tomorrow. Let the General know I'll be ready to leave for Patch soon. I have to go into town and talk to Amber Arc tomorrow. I promised her I would."

"Very well, I will see you in the morning." She turned toward the couple. "Good night to you both." Jaune got up and escorted her out.

"You didn't tell them about your plan to die, Blanc."

"And what good would that do, Pyrrha? Get more people trying to guilt-trip me into sacrificing humanity to save my own skin? I get it. Believe it or not, I really don't want to die, but you need to understand that there's not much of a choice."

"You... you have to die?" Noisette had returned.

* * *

Blanc finished packing after a quiet breakfast. Whatever else Winter might be, she was correct; he was putting the Arcs in danger by being here.

"You're sure you won't stay?"

He turned to find Noisette leaning against the door frame. He didn't answer, instead turning back to pick up the bags his grandparents had bought for him, and the pack with his weapons.

"Can I go with you into town? Amber will bring me back."

"It's not my ship. Ask Winter."

"You don't have to..."

He interrupted her. "You can't really understand. You've known me for all of a day. It was wonderful meeting you all, but... I can't stay. And I can't hold back."

"You're my nephew. I feel weird about hitting on you so much yesterday, but... I don't want you to die."

"Tell that to Safran, or Lapiz. You think about so many grimm you can't see anything else for miles, and then you tell me you wouldn't trade me to stop that. Tell me you wouldn't trade my life for theirs." She turned away.

"There has to be another way, Blanc." He heard her stepping down the hall, picked up his bags, and followed her out. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he was stopped by his Grandfather.

"I think you had best come with me. There's something you have to know; a right of all Arcs. A secret you deserve to know, as part of your heritage. Jaune already knows... bring your rifle. It's a ways out there."

"Winter's waiting on me."

"She can wait a bit longer, son. This is important. I never wanted Jaune to become a hunter; I never wanted him to go to Beacon, or see that damned statue. And I didn't want to tell him this, but like my father before me, I promised my father I would, and Jaune hasn't had the chance to tell you." Jaune was waiting for them at the back door.

"Pyrrha not coming?" he asked his father.

"I'll tell her if and when the time is right. This is my responsibility. I gave my father the same vow he gave his, and an Arc always keeps his word. Come on; Dad will lead us." Jaune was carrying his own Boltor, and had Crocea Mors at his waist as well, but had left his armor.

The walk through the fields ended up at a small rise covered in trees. Marron stopped, waving them forward, and Jaune went up to a small sturdy conifer, needles covering the ground underneath. He put his hand around a broken branch stump low on the trunk, and a the ground behind the tree lowered down into a ramp into the ground. He walked around the tree and started to step inside, Marron following him. They stopped at a door.

"Okay Blanc. This is the part where you put your hand in the slot. You'll feel a prick; it's going to draw a bit of blood." Blanc looked at his father and then his grandfather, one eyebrow raised, but did as he was bidden, and felt a quick poke on the tip of his ring finger. He pulled his hand back up, sucking his finger into his mouth at the welling of blood.

"What was that about?"

"Just wait. It takes a minute or two."

Blanc tried to be patient, but after a few minutes seemed to pass, he opened his mouth to ask why they where there, but the door in front of them slid apart in the middle, both sides folding back against the walls of a tunnel which quickly turned into a downward stairwell. They quickly stepped inside, and the doors shut behind them, Jaune leading the way and Marron's hand on his shoulder, guiding him forward.

"Arc hasn't always been our last name; in fact, the last name Arc belonged to another family before the color war. They served our family, and were wiped out to the last member. We took their name in their honor, as a remembrance of the great give they gave us and the people of Vale, and ultimately Remnant." They reached the bottom of the stairwell quickly, coming to what looked like some sort of storeroom combined with an armory. Armor, swords and blades of other types, shields, polearms, crossbows and bolts, and an assortment of other items were racked carefully along the walls, though they appeared to need maintenance. The middle of the room held a circular table, and a couch broken into three parts that surrounded it, sunken into the ground, with the rest of the room dominated by shelves full of books, documents, and items of precious worth. "I got the stone for Pyrrha's ring from here."

"Ring? You... you asked her?"

"Not yet. I want to talk to her folks first. Mistralian custom. I already know Pyrrha will say yes; we've talked about it a lot and I don't see any more reason to wait, and neither does she. I wanted to introduce her to my family - well the family besides you. It's weird to talk with you like this; you're my son but you feel more like a mentor and a friend." Marron was quiet, sitting on a couch to the side. Jaune sat at the 'head' of the table, furthest from the door, and had Blanc sit to his right.

"This ritual began with my great grandfather. He fought in the color war, and after the death and pain he witnessed, and the stain he felt it left on his soul, he didn't want to fight anymore. He cleared up his affairs, took on the name of Arc, and left with like-minded compatriots from the Army, and made the community of Bastion with them. He had this place built, to store the things he worried might one day be needed, as well as to be a safety bunker in case of grimm, or discovery by his enemies from the war. " Jaune waved his arm to the left. "Items of value that could be used to raise money, no matter what currency the kingdoms decided on." He then waved his arm over to the right. "Documents and books; history and treaties and things that might otherwise be lost forever. Most of it's digitized, right dad?" Marron nodded.

Jaune's arm circled around the room. "Weapons, though none of the quality of Crocea Mors, his sword and shield. And not his scepter. That's in a vault under Beacon, along with his crown." Blanc held his breath a moment, then let it out. "So... what you're trying to tell me is..."

"My great grandfather was the last king of Vale. He ended the war in by using an artifact, a gem of great power. The artifact of destruction, left by the brother gods to mankind. One was stored in every kingdom; wisdom to Mantle, creativity to Mistral, Choice to Vacuo. The real reason for the color war was the desire of those who ruled Mantle and Mistral to obtain the other artifacts so they could remake the world."

"Vale was losing; Mantle had better technology, Mistral had more farmland and soldiers. Vacuo had sided with Vale, but it was an uneasy alliance of necessity, and they couldn't mine the dust at the same rate that Mantle was with their machines. On the third day of the last battle, he walked out into that final battle, crown on his head and sword and scepter in his hands, and used the artifact of Destruction to annihilate the armies of Mistral and Mantle, and then fraught the grimm with his men and the survivors. He saw what their greed, fear, and hatred had caused; tens of thousands died in those three days, but by far the most on the third day, by his hand."

"They bowed down to him in fear, Mistral, Mantle, and Vacuo, and he was disgusted with himself. They swore feality, that he would rule them all, and instead he made the hunter academies. Fortresses to guard the artifacts and the people, to defend them and fight the grimm, and not each other. Then he setup the ruling council, one member from each kingdom, and a tie-breaker to represent the faunus. They don't talk about it much, but there's always been a faunus on the council. They usually come from Menagerie. Then, he put the things that represented his rule in the vault under Beacon, and left with his men that were disgusted by what they'd been forced to do, and came here, and he took up the name of Arc, and my family hid itself from the world. The sole demand the council laid on him was this; the vaults containing the artifacts were bound to his genetics, and those of his children, in perpetuity. If at any time one of us wishes it, we can go to Beacon, take up the crown and the scepter, and become the king or queen of Vale, and of Remnant."

Blanc stopped him. "How could it know the genetics of his children?"

"Remember that prick to open the door? That was taking a blood sample; it reads your genetic line from that, looks for parts of it that come from our family, and then makes note of it and transmits that back to the vault in Vale."

"Who else knows about this?"

Marron spoke instead of Jaune. "The people who came with my grandfather knew, and their familes, but the people of my father's generation didn't tell their children, other than my dad, so they have probably forgotten. The council knows, but not where we are or how to find us, or if we still exist. Your headmaster knows; Beacon's headmaster or headmistress has always known, as keepers of the vault. Otherwise, we tell no one. And now, you must make the same oath. Swear on your honor and your life, Blanc Arc, to keep this secret unless you choose to take up the mantle of leadership for this world, and all the responsibility that comes from that, and to pass this secret to your children, and demand the same oath of them."

"Alright... I swear it."

"Say they words. Say 'I swear on my honor and on my life, to keep the secret of the Arc kingship, excepting if I take up the mantle of leadership, and it's responsibility, and to pass this secret to my children, and demand the same oath of them."

"I swear on my honor and my life, to keep the secret of Arc kingship, excepting if I take up the mantle of leadership, and it's responsibility, and to pass this secret to my children, and demand the same oath of them. Why so ..." he was interrupted by a bell ringing overhead.

"Oath recorded." The mechanical voice sounded degraded, like the speaker was wearing out. Marron sighed. "Not sure how much longer that's going to last. We really need someone in the family who can fix this stuff, Jaune."

"Why are you looking at me, Dad? You have eight children, and I have... well I have one. Actually, he probably could fix it?"

Blanc glared at his father. "Jaune, I'm leaving. When would I have time to do that, even if I knew how? I don't know everything, you know."

"Well, you seem to be a fine smith. Those rifles look extraordinary; where to the dust shells go?"

"Well, it uses lightning dust to charge it, but there are no dust shells. It fires metal rods with electromagnets." Blanc proceeded to show it off to his grandfather, showing him how the magazine was loaded. "It's probably a bit more ornate than necessary, but I wanted it to look stylish for your son."

"We should keep some of these here in the armory. What do you think?"

"I guess. I'd have to make more, and the rods and magazines. The SDC is going to be mass producing these soon; probably not as decorative."

"You invented these?"

Blanc laughed. "No. Atlas did when dust started to get too scarce to use for their regular infantry. I just brought the design back with me; I'd spent time learning to make them after Aunt Ruby died... as therapy. She loved to make weapons; taught me how to use the nanolathe." Jaune's father was lost.

"Ruby is a friend; she's on a team with his mother, Weiss."

"And you're with Pyrrha?"

"Um, Pyrrha was dead, I guess."

Marron nodded. "Right. Future. You know, Blanc, I've looked at some of these records from time to time. Usually whenever Grise is angry with me. She can't get in here unless I or one of the kids lets her in - pisses her off, but the angry sex afterward is great." Jaune cried out and covered his ears, but Blanc just laughed. Once his father calmed down, Marron continued. "Did you know the founder of Vale was named Blanc? A white haired man named Blanc. There aren't any pictures of him, and the description is pretty vague other than the hair color and the name. Records from then are pretty spotty; I guess Vale almost didn't make it when it was first settled. One of the documents is an account of how the founder went out past their walls and saved them from the grimm, and never returned. It's what I thought of when I heard your name, at first.

Blanc didn't know how to respond. After an uncomfortable silence, Marron spoke again. "This is as much your heritage as Jaune or any of my children Blanc. You can come here any time you wish. And, if you choose, you can take up the mantle."

"Yeah. I really don't think I can. And even if I could, I don't want to. I never wanted this responsibility I have now; if I live through this I'm going to settle down."

"And that's how I know you're really an Arc. The reluctant king. That was the title of the king of Vale long before the color war, according to my grandfather. Anyway, I think perhaps it's time to go. You've got a long flight, as I understand it. I don't imagine I'd want to spend that time with that woman, but it's your choice... you can still stay, you know. Grise is an incredible huntress."

"I appreciate that, but even so, look what happened in just one night."

"And your friends you're going to see will be safer?"

"I... I think so, yes. Everyone there will either be a trained hunter or a huntress in training, but I also have some tasks I need to take care of..."

Jaune looked at him funny. "This is the first I've heard of it. What are you going to be doing?"

Blanc looked at him, his face hard. "Things you don't want to know about, dad."

Jaune smiled. "Actually, if you want to talk to me about Yang..."

"NOT THAT... well, I suppose I likely will be but I don't mean that. It's time to resolve things regarding Blake, and start work on weaking the white fang."

Marron spoke up, alarmed. "Blanc, those people are not something to trifle with. People don't take them nearly seriously enough, but outside the kingdoms the fang can wipe out while settlements without anyone knowing about it for months or more. The faunus are a strong people."

"I know. This is something I have to do. Hopefully just some recon work; then I'll let Ozpin follow up on it."

Neither man believed him.

* * *

 **Winter's yacht**

Winter was definitely angry. "You certainly took your time. I was hoping to be on our way early this morning; it's almost noon!"

Blanc laughed. "Well, you're gonna really hate me then. I have to go into Bastion to make a call to Patch, and then see Jaune's sister at the clinic."

"You can make your call from my yacht, but why do you need to see the doctor?"

"She made me promise to come see her there before we left. Can I make that call in privacy somewhere?" She nodded at him. "Thanks. Is Noisette coming?"

The woman in question came up behind him, slapping him on the back. "Yeah, I'll talk with Winter while you make your call, and then walk you to go see Amber."

Blanc turned. Marron and Grise, Pyrrha and Jaune, and the other sisters, had come out to tell give him their goodbyes. He hugged his father. "See you back at Beacon, Blanc."

"Yeah. Good luck with the Nikos." Jaune chuckled nervously, causing Blanc to laugh.

His hug with Pyrrha was awkward; whatever was going on between them still a problem, and he hadn't had time to resolve it. "We will see each other again, Blanc. Until then, fare well."

"You too."

His grandparents hugged him at the same time. "Son, do what you have to do. We Arcs have a knack for taking on heavy responsibilities." He stepped away, but Grise pulled him tighter.

"We've only just found out about you, and already I feel like I'm losing something precious. Come back, please. Promise me you'll come back."

"Thank you... I wish I could make that promise." There were tears in her eyes. The hugs with his aunts were far less emotional, full of giggles and laughs, and then Blanc and Noisette went up the ramp onto the craft, the family backed away, and Winter took off, taking them toward Bastion as the sun passed directly overhead.


	44. Chapter 44

**Winter's Yacht, early afternoon**

The scroll rang, but wasn't answered, so Blanc left her a voice memo.

"Hey. Sorry I'm later than I thought, some stuff happened. The good news is that I'm on Winter's Yacht, so you can scroll me back or I can scroll you again later. And we're on our way to patch, so I'll see you soon! I've really missed you. We can talk about it later, okay? Have a good time."

Blanc thought it was a bit odd that she didn't answer; she liked to sleep in a bit on weekends, but never this late.

The yacht itself was smooth; no turbulence and just a slight bit of motion that felt more like being on a boat in a stream rather than an aircraft. Blanc didn't suffer from his father's motion sickness in aircraft, but he was a bit more sensitive to the motion than most people, so he appreciated how easily the craft flowed through the air. He kept himself in what turned out to be Winter's bedroom, rather than stepping out and talking with Noisette. He was hoping Yang might scroll him back. After a few minutes it became apparent she wouldn't, so he put his scroll away.

Winter's room was as tidy as expected; he'd sat in a chair at a writing desk to scroll Yang, avoiding the bed, which had that military precision Atlas officers favored. The sheets looked slick and extremely comfortable, and the bed was easily large enough for two people; probably four if people were comfortable touching each other. It seemed a bit extravagant for an aircraft, but Winter did come from a rich family and she presumably spent a lot of time here, even if she was part of Atlas' military. The stateroom didn't have a lot of furniture; a single nightstand and a standing closet armoire besides the bed and desk. The room had overhead lighting, but also a small lamp on the nightstand. There was also a hamper, likely for dirty clothing, though Winter appeared to be wearing a copy of the same clothing as she had the day before. Either she'd washed it overnight, or she owned multiple copies of the same set, which wasn't uncommon for hunters.

Blanc didn't search her room or snoop on her. There were no notes or journals left out, and he didn't look through the desk. Finally, he got up and left the room, feeling he had no more excuse to stay and that without the phonecall, it seemed odd to be spending so much time in her bedroom, even if he was alone.

The table in the living room was still sunk into the floor, but Blanc laid himself out on the couch; Noisette must have been up in the cockpit with Winter. He was lulled to sleep by the gentle motion and steady hum of the dust engines, and didn't wake up until they arrived at Bastion, where Noisette gave him a gentle kiss on the forehead. "Come on, I'll walk with you to see Amber."

Winter lowered the ramp as he was wiping sleep from his eyes. He still didn't have his coat, but his grandmother had been able to provide him a few rugged belts to carry his tonfa in, and a sling to strap the boltor around his back. He had an extra magazine in his pocket, but left the remainder with Jaune. Blanc left his other things in a bag on board; a large miltary surplus rucksack with his clothes that they'd bought for him, and the few things he'd had in his pockets at the depot. They'd be skipping the depot on the way out; Winter's plan was to stop to refuel in Vale and then head on to Patch. Blanc agreed, it likely was safer.

She stepped down the ramp first, then waved them on to follow. The trip from the landing area to the clinic wasn't long, giving Noisette time to harass him, though she stayed away from the sexual provocations on which she'd spent the previous afternoon before their dinner. They arrived without any fanfare, Winter settling in the waiting area and Noisette letting the receptionist know she'd be back to talk to her sister later but was going to say high to some friends in town. With that, she left almost as quickly as they'd arrived. Amber was with another patient, so Blanc settled down to wait, sitting across from Winter, who was watching the door.

"You're taking this pretty seriously."

She looked over at him, then back at the door. "In all honesty, I'd thought being redirected her was intended as some sort of punishment, though I couldn't fathom whatever for. The general wasn't very specific about you at all, just to get you and ensure your safety, and if I could, talk you into going to Atlas instead. I'd never thought... well, I suppose it's better we talk once we're airborne, don't you agree?"

He nodded, refraining from replying, and picked up a magazine. It was old, perhaps a couple months out of date, but the newest on the stack on the table between the two. Celebrity gossip, some fashion advice... he dropped it back down and picked up another, this one even older, but about motorcraft. On the cover was a newer version of what looked like Yang's motorcycle, in his head. He'd yet to see it. This one was in red, and the rider was in full black and red leathers, her helmet off and blue hair caught blowing in the still image. The caption indicated it was a racing bike. He guessed it wasn't likely street legal, but he didn't think that would stop Yang if she could get away with it. And she got away with a lot.

He flipped through the magazine, not finding much to keep his interest. He figured Amber was going to give him the full press on what'd happened, but he didn't have much of a reason to keep it secret now except for how secure the clinic might be.

"... figured you could give me something for it, not tell me I'm too fat to fuck. Why you always gotta be a bitch, Doc?" He stood at first, yelling coming from the back once the door to the exam room opened. It was obvious the man had been ranting by how red his face was, though perhaps that was also out of embarrassment.

"Mr. Wilbur, I've tried being nice about this, but it's not just your libido that's a problem because of your weight. Your heart is in bad shape, your blood sugar level is too high. You're going to die if you don't change. You'll get diabettes first, or maybe skip right to a heart attack. There's no way I'm going to give you a pill that's going to cause your heart more trouble just so you can force yourself to have an erection." Her voice cooled and lowered a bit. "Henry, Mable loves you. She's not going to leave you over this. But you're not going to last much longer if you don't stop eating poorly and start moving around more."

Henry Wilbur looked to be about the size of three men packed into the body of one short old man. Or perhaps he just looked old. Mostly balding and white haired, with a large bushy white mustache, and a pauching belly that looked like too many beers and not enough work, with how red his face was, Blanc wouldn't be surprised if the man died before leaving the clinic. He stopped at the desk, making arrangements to pay for the service provided, mumbling under his breath about the 'upity bitch telling his business to everyone', and then to have the decency to look embarassed at having drawn Winter and his attention.

"Pardon me, ma'am. I was just on my way out. You have a good day, if you please." He nodded at Blanc, then swiftly stepped outside, much more lively and mobile than his appearance would otherwise suggest. Blanc turned back to his aunt, Dr. Amber Arc, as she called him forward.

"Blanc, I'm glad you took the time to see me. You still have an escort, I see."

"Yeah. There was some trouble out at your parents place. I'm sorry."

She directed him toward the first exam room, the one she'd just vacated with Mr. Wilbur. "I know. Funny enough I'm also the coroner. I was out on a call so the local sherriff had a deputy photograph everything and bag up the body. He'll probably be back out for statements later, but out here, justice isn't very professional. Besides, 'stabbed in the eye' is pretty difficult to miss. What was she doing there?"

"She was there to kill me, evidently."

Amber didn't know how to respond, so after a few moments, when Blanc didn't continue, she moved on.

"Anyway, I'm sorry your time here in Bastion hasn't been very good. Mom told me you were leaving? I guess it can't be helped. We didn't talk long, but she said you had something important to tell me and that we'd need privacy. This exam room is the one I use for sensitive subjects; it's soundproofed. It's also where women give birth in they can make it into town but not down to the Depot, which happens enough to justify soundproofing the room." She grinned at him. "Do you want to go first?"

He thought for a moment, then nodded. "Well, this is going to be difficult to accept, and I can prove it, but... you won't find it comfortable if I have to do that." Seeing her look a bit wary, he quickly responded. "Um, don't worry. I won't be touching you or anything."

She barked out a laugh. "Please. If you were actually interested in sex I wouldn't turn you down."

"Oh boy... Let's get this right out of the way. You're my aunt. My biological aunt."

She stared at him. "Look, you can just say no. I mean, I don't get turned down much; even when in Vale I was considered pretty hot and I've not lost that. Maybe that's a bit narcissistic of me but I'm aware I look good, so if you don't want to have sex, that's okay. Mom said you had a girlfriend back at Beacon."

"I do, but I'm not telling you this because I'm trying to let you down easy or something. You really are my biological aunt."

"By who? Are you claiming you're some sort of genetically engineered soldier or something? None of my siblings have any kids and I'd know if I had one."

He grinned, and she started to see it, especially when he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm Jaune's, actually. And I'm a time traveler."

"Oh bullshit. Are you filming this?" He formed the glyph, and sent her back a few seconds and behind herself, so she could see her response in third person. As her artifacted body disappeared with the glyph, her face changed. "Oh. No... no way, really? I..." She sat down on the ground, quick enough that it was more like falling. Blanc knelt next to her, checking to see if she was going into shock. "But, how is that possible?"

"A quirk of genetics; a combination of your brother and Winter's sister, in the future, and some other stuff I really can't tell you about. You've heard of dust casting?" She nodded. "Well, Schnees have a sort of genetic semblance that lets them dust cast in a particular way. They create what are called glyphs, which are symbols that are usually a combination of dust and aura, but in my case, pure aura. Jaune's got a lot of it, and I inherited that from him. The glyph I use is known among the Schnee family, but they can't cast it. It slows time to almost a complete stop, and then accelerates a mass through that space, which breaks the speed of light limitation and throws that mass into the past. There's some other stuff that also allows me to displace the mass in space as well as time; the two are pretty closely related. And before you ask, no, time travel doesn't work how the fiction on it makes it seem like it would work. The body you're in now is completely new; a copy of the body that was in front of you, but your soul is linked to both, outside of time and space. That's why you're still you even though the matter that makes up this body isn't the same as the matter that made up your previous body."

"Did you just kill me?" Anger. That was better than despair or outright terror.

"Do you feel dead? Do you feel better if I tell you that I took your body, moved it through space and time, and formed it again with the same matter and energy, just displaced?" She glared at him. "Okay, look. No, I don't think I killed you. You're you. Your body replaces cells constantly; you know that better than I do. You don't die when a certain number of them leave your body and are replaced, so how are you dead because of this? Besides, by a quirk of the methodology, you come out of the process in exactly the state you were in when I cast the glyph. Except for the soul, which transcends reality, I guess."

"You guess? You fucking guess?"

"Do you think I'm bullshitting you now about being your nephew?"

She reached up and grabbed his head, looking like she might headbutt him. Blanc's face showed alarm as she pulled him down toward her, but the kiss she gave him was anything but painful, and certainly not familial. When she broke it off, he was stunned.

"God damnit, I still want to fuck you. You don't feel like a member of my family." He scrambled back away from her. "Relax, I'm not actually going to do it. Hell, Jaune is an attractive guy, asthetically. If we weren't related I'd be interested in him too, and other than a few things, like the hair, you look just like him. How the fuck did I miss that? Explains the genetic markers in your blood, though."

"Wait, you had my genetics tested?"

She shook her head at him, reaching over and pulling him up along with her. "They did at the depot. I got the results yesterday via scroll when I called down to transmit logs. Blanc, I asked you to come talk to me because... this is so much harder now. I should have gone first. Blanc, you're dying."

After a long pause, he responded. "What?"

"Blanc, during your blood test they found a lot of lymphocytes, so they automatically did the test. You have enough indicators in your blood to suggest you have cancer. You need more tests, but they believe it's likely blood cancer."

"I... I don't feel ill."

"You might not if you were in the early stages, and with aura, well, it'll mask the symptoms quite a bit anyway. You need more testing done. It might turn out to be nothing, or an affect of what happened to you. I'm still convinced you died on that train and somehow either my brother or his girlfriend brought you back... We need to do more testing so you can tell how far along it is and we can start treatment."

"Treatment? For what?" This was why the power was being patient with him. Either it knew he was dying anyway, or it was actively causing the disease to kill him somehow.

She gave him her most patient look. "For the cancer."

"Oh. Well, no need to worry about it. I just have to make it until the end of the Vytal festival."

"Blanc, this isn't a game. This is your life we're talking about."

He looked away. "Look, your dad and Jaune took me down to the bunker in the old forest today. You've been? Of course you have. Listen, there are things around Beacon that are going to happen. It's why I came back. If I don't stop them, the grimm will kill every human and faunus on the planet in less than 20 years. I just have to make it to the end of the festival. Then it won't matter."

"Of course it'll matter. You're my nephew."

"No, it won't. I have to die anyway."

She looked at him, saying nothing while letting them both calm down. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's one of those things I can't talk to you about."

"A secret more important than time travel?"

"Don't talk about that either, but in a way, yes. A secret like our common ancestry, but worse. Part of the circumstance that lets me time travel has to be passed back to the rightful owner, but to do that, I have to die."

"Blanc, why do you treat your life so cavalierly? I mean, you traveled back in time. Surely you could believe there has to be some way you can live through this."

He walked over to the door, preparing to leave. She grabbed his hand to stop him. "I thought there might be, but now... Thanks Amber. For the kiss... for all of it. I better be going."

"Blanc, wait... for dust's sake, just wait. We can talk about this."

He turned to her, his stare going right through her like she wasn't there, but then focusing intensely. "No, we can't. And you can't either. You can't tell anyone; not Jaune, not your parents, not anyone. Swear it to me."

"Blanc? Okay... I won't tell anyone... you're not going to get the tests, are you?"

He paused. "I don't much see the point. I have to make it to the end of the festival. I won't make it past that, and if I'm too weak to act, I won't be able to do what I need to anyway. I can't be that close to dying or I'd feel worse, right? But even if I am, treatment means hospitalization and drugs or something, right? I'll be too sick to fight. Then it won't matter anyway. Either I'm strong enough to make it to when I need to make it, or I'm not and nothing will fix that, and I won't make it past it anyway, so... no, I won't be. The answer doesn't mean anything anymore." He turned the knob and walked out the door. Winter stopped him before he could pay. "I've already arranged for it. Are you prepared to depart?"

He looked back at his aunt, who appeared distraught. "Yeah, as much as I can be." Amber caught the double meaning.

* * *

 **Patch, nearby the Xiao-Long home**

Yang had waited on Blanc's call most of the morning, but decided to head into town with the rest of RWBY for lunch and a bit of shopping, leaving her scroll behind to charge since the others would have theirs. Lunch wasn't very special; a little sandwich place in the same strip with a few of the boutiques that Patch had. Yang and Weiss both had an eye for fashion, though the stores on the island favored Yang's preferences over Weiss'. With the location of Signal academy on the island, hunter apparel was common, including some of the more reinforced items that aura users often required, even from normal clothing. Ruby, for example, had to buy clothing with more friction-free properties due to her semblance and it's use. Even then, the heat generated from friction was the real limitation on how far she could run at full speed. The clothing she selected was designed to minimize friction and maximize heat removal, and was made of material that transferred heat outward well, but insulated the wearer, and reduced air friction. Ruby's choice of coloring didn't help, but the difference was very minor between colors. Yang's clothing was intended to be more flexible and withstand both the heat and the increased strength of her body's movements while her semblance was activated. Her stretchy crop-top wasn't just because of her impressive bust size, but also because of an embarassing event in which her semblance activated in anger, over her hair as it usually happened, and while she was stretching her shoulders out, her top ripped in half, revealing that bust to the onlookers of the upcoming fight. The embarrassment wasn't enough to stop her from pummeling the boy who'd dared to yank her hair, however, and her bust had grown bigger since then as well.

Most of these materials relied on dust, somewhere in the production of the clothing. Weiss had dust woven into the fabric, letting her cast glyphs more easily and quickly, but this was a rather common hunter method and found frequently in hunter clothing. Blake's clothes utilized transparent dust powder in the generation of the thread to aid it in taking on the aspects of her clones; transparent dust was known to take on the coloring and power of other dust it was mixed with, making it a general additive. When used in thread, the fibers would more easily accept color, and as a side bonus, were more easy to duplicate via semblance or other illusions. Transparent dust was also common, making it inexpensive as a clothing refinement ingredient, so it was commonly in most fabrics, giving Blake a very wide selection by comparison.

Shopping for hunters and huntresses was equally demanding, depending on their individual needs. It wasn't uncommon to find young men looking at various tops, checking the fiber content and type, and other aspects. Building a hunter 'persona' was also taught in the academies. Having a particular style made for a show of increased confidence to the public, and often helped keep emotions from cascading into drawing more grimm. Being a huntress was as much looking the part as playing it, so part of their yearly school costs were kept aside for the purchase of clothing and other items as these were directly related to the business of fighting grimm. A good action movie or comedy could often drive grimm away from the area of the theater, such was the effect of emotions on the mortal enemies of humanity.

Yang wasn't looking for hunter gear, however. She was looking for something to wear for Blanc. He'd be gone for over a week, and she was woman enough to know that other women were going to have their eyes on him, and she wanted to make sure his eyes and thoughts were on her. Her normal outfit was already very attractive, and showed off all her assets just the way she liked, but she wanted to get something just for him, and was having trouble with finding it. Weiss had already left with Ruby, leaving her and Blake alone together.

"How about this?" Blake was holding up a stretchy one-piece body suit. It was white, covered only one shoulder, and snapped closed on the bottom.

"I like the shoulder but I'm not sure it'll stay on the girls."

"You won't know if you don't try it."

Yang shrugged, taking it from her, along with a pair of low-cut denim shorts, and added it to the backless black minidress with short sleeves and the side-tie bikini, and headed for the fitting rooms.

A short while later, she stepped out of the booth in a bikini, walking up to one of the full length mirrors, and admiring herself and how the bikini looked. The small triangles barely covered more than her nipples and if she looked carefully, the tuft of her pubic hair was visible around the edges of the bottoms. "Ugh, either I need to trim, or these are a bit to small for me. What'd you think?"

Blake quickly snapped out of it. "Um, ... I don't see us going somewhere you'd actually wear that, anytime soon. It's pretty cold to be swimming."

Yang nodded. "Yeah, but it's on sale. Would you help me with the shave later?" Blake nodded, careful not to drool at the idea. When Yang next appeared, she was wearing the minidress, and it was obvious she still had on the bikini bottoms, but not the top, based on how she was poking through the top. "Now this is hot, what'd ya think?" Blake nodded. It genuinely did look good on her figure, the dress somehow supporting her chest despite it's size and the lack of a back, possibly because the stretchy material was pulled up by her upper arms.

"You'll probably want something to cover your nipples."

Yang laughed and grinned at her friend, then returned to the booth. After quite a few minutes, when she still hadn't seen her, Blake asked Yang if she was okay.

"No. Can you help me? I can't get this thing to snap."

Blake slipped into the booth unnoticed by the staff, only to find the snap Yang was having trouble with was on the bodysuit. "Yang, shouldn't you have underwear on?"

"Eh, maybe. I just took off the bikini bottoms and didn't want to bother. Why, does my little kitty bother you? Come on, just help me snap it shut." Yang was trying to connect the bottom of the bodysuit, but was having trouble reaching or stretching it to where she could see the snaps. Blake hesitated, then reached forward. Yang released the front of the body suit, but her friend didn't take it. Instead, her fingers reached out to her body, first slipping into Yang's pubic hair, and then sliding further along her nether lips, finding them slick. "I've been waiting for you to touch me."

Black snapped out of her fantasy. "What was that?"

Yang replied. "I'm been waiting for you to talk to me. What do you think?" She had on the body suit, and the denim shorts. The shorts were low enough and the bodysuit tight enough that there was a gap between them on the sides, showing the top edges of Yang's panties. "I take it by the face you're giving me that it looks good?"

"Uh... yeah. I think Blanc will love it."

Yang sprang forward and enveloped her friend in a tight hug. Blake could feel the lack of a bra under the stretchy material of the body suit, and how thin it was stretched this way, yet somehow Yang's nipples still hadn't been visible. "Thank you for this Blake. We need to get you something hot! Maybe hit a club and find you someone."

Blake's face was red, which Yang interpreted as embarrassment over the club comment, but was actually about how Blake felt about having such a fantasy right in front of the object of it, and getting caught unaware. "Yeah, I don't know. I'm not exactly rolling in Lien."

"Ahh, don't worry about it. I saw this black top and white jacket that I think would look great on you. Maybe with a white belt and black leather pants! Come on!"

* * *

 **Arc Family Farm, outside Bastion, early evening**

Jaune had given her a pleasant tour of the farm, and actually showed her the farm rather than just using it as an excuse to be alone. Ultimately, they ended up in the rafters of the barn, laying naked together in a pile of hay.

"I've got straw where straw should never be. Why did we do this again?" She grinned down at him, and he smiled back up at her, not actually upset about the feeling of the straw.

"Because you can hardly resist me, Mr. Arc."

"Oh, don't say it like that Pyr, you sound like Ms. Goodwitch."

She teased him, leaning down so her breasts hung in his face. "Oh, I know mine aren't small, but they're nothing like hers. Goodness, they're massive. I'm surprised she can fight with them."

Jaune coughed. "Can't say I noticed." She knew that he had. It was impossible to miss, and frankly she was fairly certain Goodwitch wanted it that way; a distracted opponent is more easily defeated, after all. "Besides, you're perfect. I mean it... and not just your shape... do... do you think they'll like me, Pyr?"

She pulled him close, his softened penis rubbing against her wet nethers. "My mother will love you. You're just the sort of man she told me to look for. My dad... well he'll figure it out, okay? I'm his baby girl, his only child... and to be honest, you remind me of him a lot. Thank dust you weren't hung up on my fame; I don't think I could have stood that."

He rubbed the back of his head in that way that made her insides squirm. "Yeah, you know it was only because I didn't recognize you."

"Oh, and did you recognize Weiss?"

He shrugged. "I'm just a local yokal."

She giggled, pushing back to sit up. "She looked nothing like me, Jaune. She's small, flat chested, and bitchy, if I say so myself."

He pushed himself up to her, kissing her softly and pulling her into a hug. "I'm yours. You know that right? You don't need to be jealous of her. I made a fool of myself that day, but I'd do it a hundred times over if it led me to you."

She pulled back to look into his eyes. "And Blanc? He's a good man, Jaune. How could he not be with you as his father. Do you... do you think maybe you should..."

He silenced her with a kiss. "No. I respect him and care for him, but I want my life with you... and maybe he's right." She seemed shocked. "I know Yang makes him happy, but you've seen it right? That deep sadness that follows him everywhere? Watch him when he's not looking, and you'll see it. He's said it. He wants to die, Pyrrha. And I barely know Weiss. It seems like disrespect to her, to you, and to him if I try to make that happen. Pyrrha, what's going on?"

"What do you mean, Jaune?" Pyrrha looked away, beginning to gather her clothing.

"I mean between you and Blanc. After the train you and he just... if he wasn't watching you, you were watching him. Something happened. You're usually not one for PDA, and you kept initiating it in front of him like you were trying to prove something."

She turned back to him, dressing silently. He began to dress himself, not sure if he'd made a misstep or if he should be worried, and she could see the tension building up in him. When he almost caught himself in the zipper of his jeans, she stopped him, zipping it up carefully for him instead. "I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's... Something did happen. Blanc... he died Jaune, and when he was dead, something came over from him to me. It's... it's why he's here, why he keeps saying he has to die. That thing was what he's here to give back, and he means to give it to me." She handed him his shirt, and then began to carefully button her blouse.

"There were voices, and one of them was his. And, in that moment before I told it to go back - that I wasn't ready, there was this connection. I could see things, just... know things he knows or feels. See his memories. I'm not sure I understand it enough to talk about it. He... I could feel how it makes him feel, this raw hunger that seems like it's eating him away, and how it just... just takes the voices of the people he knows and loves and makes him think they all hate him. And yet..."

When she didn't continue, Jaune pulled her into his arms, letting her rest against his chest. He was more than curious, but he knew he needed to be patient.

"It was so lovely to me. Like a wonderful garden of beautiful voices and thoughts, except for his. The only male, and outsider, rejected and hated and... and god-like. I saw this moment where he was calling lightning from the sky, whipping wind to carry fire and freezing leaves into blades to slaughter thousands. Jaune, that's going to be me and I... I don't know if I'll still be me anymore."

He held her as she told him about her fear. "I love you. I have to believe that whatever this is, that you can shape it instead of it shaping you. You're the strongest person I know, Pyrrha. I know it, in my soul."

"Do you think he could see me the way I saw him?"

Jaune sighed but said nothing. He didn't have any answers; he wasn't sure how he should feel about his son having this sort of connection to the woman he wanted to be his wife. It sounded extremely intimate, yet Pyrrha was clearly disturbed by what she'd seen and felt. "I don't know. Is it bad if he did?"

She kissed him and said nothing. She loved him, but she wasn't comforted by his platitudes. Blanc's will was stronger than hers had ever been; he'd had no choice, being burdened with this thing since his birth, and yet she could see how it'd shaped him. Did it make him into something else, or did he change it?

She didn't want to believe in destiny anymore.

* * *

You'd be forgiven for thinking this was abandoned. I've been trying to write this chapter for, well, a month now. Parts of this are filler, honestly, and parts of this are necessary. Blanc's disease, which may or may not be cancer, wasn't originally planned, but I started to think about what would happen to a person who's body repeatedly gets remade, like a copy, over and over. Mistakes, right? Because it's close, but not perfect. And over time, with enough of them, what you get is presumably cancer.

I like the idea of Blanc being combative with the Maiden's power, and viewing it more like an entity that's not his ally but rather that they're using each other for common goals. I've done a lot of speculation on what the power really is; at one point I'd though Ozpin was the spirit of the original wizard, reincarnated over and over and cursed to do so as long as the maiden's powers are separated.

I do have to confess, the lack of reviews leaves me a bit bewildered. I appreciate the constructive criticism I've received, but I've not got much of it, despite having more than a few people follow the story. I'm not one to beg for reviews, but please, if you feel like you have something to say, don't hesitate. Part of doing this is so that I get better at doing this, and I can't do that without your help.


	45. Chapter 45

**Winter's Yacht, Early afternoon**

Blanc had fellen asleep in her small lounge, laying back across the couch. He shook in his sleep, eyes twitching rapidly, and his body covered in sweat. Winter sat across from him, watching, until with a start, he sat up, eyes wide and startled.

"Are you okay? I take it you were having a nightmare?"

He paused, catching his breath. "Just memories..."

Her eyebrow raised, but he didn't elaborate. After waiting, she sighed and responded. "Flight time to Vale's Airfield for refueling will take us into late evening. I propose we stop there for the evening meal. There's a kitchenette on board; I confess I'm not much of a cook."

He got up, pulling his sweat soaked shirt off and reaching into his bag for a replacement. Winter looked away, ashamed at her thoughts, but then turned back, her eyes widening a the sight of all the scars across his torso. "Blanc, I... what happened to you?"

He shot up, quickly turning to put the shirt between him and her. "Um, do you mind if I use your shower?" She nodded, so he grabbed his bag, heading into her room. A few minutes later she heard the sound of her shower running; it used recycled water that was exchanged at the same time as the aircraft was yacht was effectively a small mobile apartment; not the fastest aircraft available, but faster than it's size should allow, and it made for a good staging area for missions, as well as fitting the profile of a Schnee heiress.

After a bit, she entered her own room, sitting on the bed. The door to the ensuite was open and she could hear the water running in the shower, and tell Blanc was inside the stall, so she raised her voice. "Are you going to tell me about your scars?"

He yelled back. "I don't see why I should. You may be my aunt, but you barely know me."

"I recognize what look like scars from a rapier, like the one my sister wields. Did she give you those scars?" There was quiet fury in her voice.

He didn't answer for a bit, then shut off the shower. Really, he was just rinsing off sweat anyway. He quickly toweled off, and she waited patiently, occasionally seeing parts of his shadow as he dried himself. "Most of them aren't from her, but yes, the future her did give me many of them. She was training me. It was painful but... looking back on it, I suppose it may have saved my life. You can't really understand. You weren't there; none of you were there. You don't know what life was like and dust will it, you never will."

"And the rest? I recognize whip scars, Blanc."

"None of your business. I'm pretty sure I was clear about this. You don't know me well enough for me to want to share this with you." He stepped out of the bathroom, nude save for a towel wrapped around his waist. She'd seen his scars already, but now she could really appreciate how much of his body was damaged. His feet, the brief glipses she caught of his calves - there were scars from slices and tears in his skin like a spiderweb. Her hand flew to her mouth, covering it for fear she'd lose what she'd had to eat that morning.

"Yeah, that's one reason I don't want to share it."

"I can't believe she'd do this to you. The sister I know... The Weiss I love would never do that to anyone, let alone her own child."

"I told you, most of this wasn't her. Some of this is from grimm, some of it is from other things..." He sat on the bed, still undressed. "Look, you see his round-shaped one here? You gave me that while you were training me to use the maiden's powers, with one of your ice bolts."

She looked at him confused. "Excuse me, training you with what?" His eyebrow rose.

"The maiden's... wait, you know what you are, right?"

"I'm the oldest daughter of Jacque Schnee, a special operative of the Atlas Military, and evidently, I'm your aunt."

"No, I mean about being the winter... you don't know yet. Great. This is stupid; you're supposed to have a handler from what I was told. You work under Ironwood, right?" She nodded. "Well, he is supposed to be yours. He hasn't explained this to you? The voices, the power boost and domination over elements associated with your season? Your eyes lighting up?"

Her face lit up, partially in excitement, but also a bit in anger. "You know what this is? This thing that's been happening to me?"

"Wow, okay. You must be going through your awakening. That's what it's called when the power transfers but is dormant, and then activates. Part of the reason why new maidens have to be sought out so often." He paused, grateful for her patience. "What do you know about the story of the wizard and the four maidens."

"The story of the seasons? It's an old child's tale, Blanc."

"It's also basically true. The wizard existed, and he granted four young women powers over the elements aligned with their particular season. You have the powers of the Winter maiden, and you trained me to use mine, which are from Fall."

She looked down at his crotch. "You don't look like a woman to me, Blanc."

He laughed, relaxing a bit at the humor. "No, I suppose not. I got my powers when mom was just pregnant with me. There was no one else around and available who qualified, I guess, and the former holder must've died thinking about mom or something. You were... are the winter maiden. I don't know much about how you got your powers, I was just a kid when mine started to manifest and you came to train me to control them. They were always a bit disagreeable with me, though. I must've been a terrible pupil." She smirked at him. "The powers transfer when the former holder dies. As far as I know they've always transferred to women before; young women who were virgins."

"I hate to break it to you, Blanc, but I've not been a virgin for some time. Certainly well before this... thing... started happening to me. I... I'll suddenly get flashes of something like memory; things I never experienced but they feel real, and there will be light coming from my eyes. The room will get cold. I've had a flare for utilizing ice since my aura was unlocked, that and summoning. Your poor mother still struggles with that, I know. So far I've been able to hide it; I didn't know what was happening to me."

He pulled her into a one-armed hug. "I had a similar experience, though mine was a bit more violent. Blew the roof right off out house in Patch. Mom pitched a fit; thought we'd been hit by tornado or something, until she saw my eyes. That's when she called you. I thank Dust you were there to explain it to me. I guess I get to pay it back now. Ironwood is supposed to talk to you about this, but I guess he doesn't know yet, if you've been keeping it a secret. I'll train you, the way you trained me, if you want."

She pulled him all the way into a hug, her head over his shoulder, heedless of his almost nudity. "Thank you, Blanc. I've been so scared. I thought... I thought they'd throw me out or... put me in a prison or dissect me. Once I was flying and had an episode, and the console froze over. I was lucky that the autopilot was engaged and that nothing shorted out either... I was still forced to have most of it repaired after landing. I tried to control it by keeping my emotions in check, and it had worked for a while, but lately..."

He returned the hug, warmly. His aunt hadn't been as cold and indifferent as his mother had been, but she'd definitely been difficult and stand-offish, even while training him, and afterward he rarely saw her again. She hadn't survived the early days of the final siege of mankind; she'd been the one to inform his mother that her beloved partner Ruby had been murdered, and that was the last he saw of her.

Blanc could feel her tears on his shoulder, and he just held her while she sobbed. He didn't know what else to do, and while he felt a bit weird to be a grown man, naked, holding his own aunt on her own bed, there was nothing sexual about what they were doing. He understood that fear she had when weird things began to happen that she couldn't explain but knew she caused. He'd had the same things happen to him, only he'd been a child and could still believe in magic. He wasn't sure who had it worse between them, at least in this respect, but he could offer her the same comfort she'd offered him when it had been his problem. Always another task, and time was growing shorter with every day.

Leaning her back, he looked into her eyes. "Let me get dressed. In the meantime, what do you know about meditation?"

* * *

 **Xiao-Long home, Patch, late afternoon**

Ruby'd never kissed a girl, or anyone other than her family, really. A peck that had left her flushed and giggling during her first few years of school, until that boy turned into a bully and started pulling her hair. It was the one time Yang just laughed it off rather than knocking the bully around. She still didn't quite understand why it was different, but Yang said it was. She'd said that he was trying to show he liked her. It hurt! It's why she got her hair cut short, and kept it that way. She figured, less hair to pull, less hair pulling. It helped that it was easier to clean and take care of, too.

Now though, she couldn't stop herself from imagining pulling Weiss's hair while she...

"Ruby, what are you thinking about?" She was staring. She was staring at Weiss and she'd been caught. Why was Weiss smirking?

Ruby choked down the cookie she'd been eating. Weiss had joined her for once, taking small, polite nibbles. "Uh, I was thinking about this boy who pulled my hair after kissing me."

"Oh, he stole your first kiss, then pulled your hair in a passionate embrace?" The heiress was laughing now.

"No, we were little kids. Kids don't do those kind of things."

"And huntresses? Do we do those kind of things?" Ruby's mind filled with images of pulling Weiss's head back, revealing her long, slender neck to Ruby's tongue, tracing the fencer's collar bone, downward...

"I think Yang does. Do you?"

Weiss looked into her eyes from across the plate of cookies her dad had left for them before heading out to Signal to work on grading some papers. "I believe I do. I have in the past." She looked away. "When the person and the time is right, anyway."

"Weiss, are we flirting?"

The white-haired young woman suddenly choked up. "Ruby! I... you don't just spout things out like that?"

That confused her more. "Why not? It seems like if you really liked someone, why wait to tell them? We don't know what's going to happen. Bad things could be just around the corner. We face grimm all the time, and criminals who might kill us. If I like you, and you like me, why shouldn't we tell each other?"

Weiss turned toward her, serious consideration on her face. "I suppose you have a point. Are you telling me you like me?"

Ruby nodded, and Weiss reached out to her, yanking Ruby's hair, and pulled her into a kiss. It was wet, and Ruby had no idea what she was doing, and she was a bit grossed out at first when Weiss started to push her tongue into Ruby's mouth, but then it touched her tongue, and she felt herself sigh, and warmth spread through her, from her chest downward, and the reaperette wrapped her arms around her partner, titled her head a bit more, and did her best to mimic what she liked best about what Weiss was doing.

And then, Weiss pulled her hair again, tilting her head backward and began to kiss her way down Ruby's neck, and Ruby understood why hair pulling could be a good thing.

"Am I interrupting something, Schnee?" In the doorway, leaning against the frame, stood Qrow. He was not smiling, nor was he holding his flask.

* * *

Blake sat, Yang's head in her lap, watching the clouds pass. There was a bit of a chill in the air, but it was still early afternoon, and quite comfortable out in their regular gear. From the house, they could hear raised voices.

"Is it really so bad if she likes Weiss, Yang?"

It took a while before the blonde answered. "I don't think it's Weiss. I think it's that Ruby's 15." Before Blake could interject. "And Weiss isn't."

"The age difference isn't that much, and she is a hunter-in-training. She can drink and have sex if she wants to."

"Of course she can, but she shouldn't. Not yet, anyway. Dad's not even comfortable with Blanc yet - not really, you know that. And Ruby? And Qrow's probably trying to be the dad he wanted to be but couldn't, or maybe... maybe he just doesn't understand how to be more subtle about it."

"Subtle like flying all the way to Beacon because he thought his daughter got knocked up, when she's just knocked her boyfriend out?"

Yang cringed. It was still a soft spot for her; she was full of regret over what she'd done.

"So you don't think your dad would have a problem if say, you and I were in a relationship?"

Yang laughed. "I dunno, Kitty-kat. Fancy trying out a blonde flosser?" Blake slapped Yang's shoulder. "Nah, probably not. Some of dad's students in every class were gay and he never said anything about it. It didn't really come up when we had the talk." A door slammed, Ruby marching toward the pair. Behind them it opened again, and Qrow ran out behind her.

"Get back here young lady. We weren't finished." Weiss was behind them, still in the house, her hands covering her face.

Ruby turned, screaming at him. "Who do you think you are? You've suddenly decided now is the time to start acting like my dad, and your first act as a parent is to call my girlfriend a whore!" The girls gasped.

"I didn't call her a whore. I called her a slut who preys on children."

Now that the arguers were closer, the loungers could see the red handprint on Qrow's face.

"I. Am. Not. A. Child! I kill Grimm. I drink milk! M. I. L. K. Just because I don't drink that stinking stuff you keep in that flask doesn't make me naive. If Weiss and I want to fuck, we're going to fuck." Yang stood up and covered the girl's mouth, Blake behind her, mouth hanging open, and Weiss behind Qrow, in tears and covering her own mouth.

"Five minutes and you're already talking about sex. You're fifteen, Ruby." The reaper broke free, getting right up into his face.

"I'm a legal adult. I can drink if I want, I can screw if I want. Yang lost her virginity at 15! What's the big deal? I'm not even going to get pregnant!"

Yang interrupted before Qrow could continue, a shocked look on his face. "Ruby, how do you know that?"

Ruby stopped, turning to her sister, a sheepish look on her face. "I sort of followed you that night... and watched."

"Ruby!"

Blake slipped subtly over to Weiss. She whispered "You want to go some where and talk?"

Weiss looked grateful. "I think I ought to stay." Yang slapped Ruby, then punched Qrow, and then all three stalked off, completely ignoring the remaining two. "Then again..."

"They'll be all right. Come on, let's go find someplace quiet to talk. Yang showed me a pond over this way." She took Weiss's hand, and began to lead her off. It just so happened to be in the direction none of the three had left.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy, late evening**

Blanc had persuaded Winter to drop him off at the Academy so he could visit his room and sleep there, rather than her couch. The school was lightly populated by comparison to normal, but the grounds were never really empty, and the business of the school went on even without the students. As much as Beacon was a school, it was also a business and the nominal headquarters for hunters in the kingdom. Student tuition provided them access to the forge, but the same facility was available, and frequented, by hunters in the kingdom, as well as the dust shop and various other stores and businesses geared toward hunters. There was even a small bakery and cafe, which was where Blanc took his evening meal.

He'd wanted to get back to his room and get the nanolathe reproducing his coat. He had the raw material already; a bolt of the special cloth he'd constructed that had been slated to send on to the SDC was still there; he'd make another bolt after. Instead, he'd carefully cut enough material from it for another coat, with the pockets for armored plates, and put it into the lathe as source material. The process would take an hour or so, and then he'd have to weave the necessary glphys into it with dust to lighten it with the armored plates, as well as keep it cool enough to tolerate, as the fabric was air-tight, and installed the necessary electrical dust weave to allow it to become rigid so that he could glide with it.

After getting it going, he'd changed clothes, hit one of the shops to purchase a bag and some new boots, and then hit the cafe, which had a good view over the cliffs at Vale. From here he could see part of the coast, as well as the defensive wall between the city and the mountains that formed Vale's real defense against the grimm. He'd seen it on their flight into the kingdom from Bastion; the wall several meters high, and ringed from the eastern coast around the south, up the western side of the city, to the coast along the northern side. Forever fall lay outside the wall, but the Emerald forest was trapped between it and Beacon itself. It was a mystery how both forests continued to have grimm populations, given their proximity to Beacon and how often they were purged as a result.

The coast was defended by Vale's only remaining professional military force, the Valesian coast guard. They mostly operated fixed gun emplacements along the coast, and the various docks for the merchant kingdom. They did have a small navy as well; not suited to much more than defending the harbors and coastline from grimm, but Vale was mostly demilitarized, living under Atlas' protective umbrella. They served as a major port, and refueling post for the three other kingdoms, and the major location of international trade, based on their geographic position. This made the city rather cosmopolitan; Atlas' technology, Mistralian artwork, agriculture and style, and Vacuoan vices, spices, and dust. All along with Vale's abundant seafood and monopoly on various foodstuff that only grew in the Valesian climate. Vale tended to take the best of what was offered from the other kingdoms.

Unfortunately, their security forces were lax. Too much time spent living under Atlas' protective wings, too much reliance on the natural barriers of the mountains, and the automated defenses on their walls. Only their coasts, and their police forces, were professional. The kingdom had a nominal militia, but they weren't well armed or trained. The other part of the equation for the weak state of their security was the ability to rely on what was widely considered the best school of hunters and huntresses in Remnant. Beacon had always had a good reputation, but under the current headmaster, it had created better and more numerous defenders against the darkness of the grimm. Atlas, as a school, relied on it's technology and rigid military structure, while Mistral depended upon the creativity and uniqueness of it's candidates and it's wider selection. It was the most populous of all of the kingdoms. Vacuo had a tendency to provide the most self-reliant of the four schools, but they were also prone to wandering and working alone. It's population also tended to be the most hardy, having to defend themselves from grimm directly more often than the other kingdoms, and while it's population was the smallest of all the kingdoms, they had the largest portion of them as active hunters and huntresses.

Blanc ate lightly, wanting to be finished quickly. He still wanted to pack some things and see if there was anything else he needed to purchase to replace items lost while going to visit his father's family. He'd not have much time to rest on the flight to patch, which was relatively short, and he wasn't sure if Winter would be staying or not. He remembered that she'd had an on-again off-again thing with his grandpa Qrow, and wasn't sure if they were on or off right now.

Winter had taken to meditation well, but it was too difficult to train her in much of anything else in such a confined place, and secrecy was still necessary. He'd hoped to be able to find someplace on patch where they could find the privacy necessary to train, but he supposed he'd have to finally resolve the issues around Blake, and then bring the rest of RWBY into his secret, before he could risk training her. He loved her, but he doubted Yang would allow him that kind of privacy without knowing why. She knew some of his secrets, but this was Winter's secret as well. He knew, from experience, that Qrow was in the know, but he didn't know about Yang's father, and he knew no one else there would know. He also figured Weiss wouldn't leave it alone if she knew it involved Winter.

He looked out over the city; Winter had dropped him off, but headed into Vale's airfield anyway. She had a regular hanger there, and reservations at her favorite restaurant. For two. He felt guilty about leaving her alone, but perhaps she'd picked someone else up to join her. She'd offered to stay with him, but he'd insisted that if she wasn't staying in his rooms, she may as well go on and enjoy herself as he had hours of work ahead of him, and would likely be poor company. He did offer to let her use his bed while he worked; he doubted he'd get much sleep, especially having napped earlier and dreamt of Salem's tender mercies.

His scroll vibrated, and he pulled out it, expecting Yang. Instead, it was Winter.

"Hey. Enjoy your meal?"

"I did. Would you like me to bring you anything?"

"I'll be working most of the night so I'm eating at the cafe, but thanks anyway. I didn't expect you to come back until tomorrow."

She smiled. "Refueling's finished. I could stay in the hanger, but I don't think I can sleep. You've no idea how relieved I am that you know about this." He did, somewhat. It couldn't be the same, of course, having been a child while she was an adult, but he'd been frightened of himself and of what people would think of him. He could still remember that anxious feeling, his mother and Aunt Ruby looking down on him as they looked out at the missing roof. He'd thought he would vomit until Ruby began to chuckle.

"Well, you can stay at my place if you want. Bed's not any bigger than yours, though."

"I'd like to watch you work, if you don't mind. Father hadn't told me anything about you, but I'm interested to see what you do for our family's benefit."

"Sure. It's not as exciting as you think it'll be; trust me."

She nodded, and then signed off. He supposed there really wasn't much left to say; he'd no idea how long it'd take her to get to her yacht, but from there it wouldn't take her long to arrive at Beacon, and he had no doubt she could figure out how to use the directory as well as anyone else. He finished the last portion of his meal as the sun set, then walked back to his room, meandering a bit to give the nanolathe time.

Winter had beaten him back, somehow. At his inquisitive look, she replied to the answer in his head. "I was already on board. I'm very interested to see our investment in you."

He unlocked the door, opening it for her to step in. The glow of the nanolathe's dust projectors and the quiet hum as they moved back and forth, working on the ballistic nanoweave fiber construct being transformed into a new duster greeted them before he slipped on the light switch, the arc of electricity in the overhead tubes creating it's own, louder hum, and washing out both the light and sound from the lathe.

"So that's the nanolathe you were describing? It's larger than I expected, but quieter. And you say it can produce anything?"

He nodded. "Just about. You have to have the complete designs and the raw material; it doesn't make something from nothing, but you can take the base elements and, given enough time, it will weave them into whatever you want. It uses dust projectors to manipulate the material at a sub-atomic level. The more intricate the design and the more it has to layer differing materials, the slower it is. Because the cloth was already made, it's going pretty quickly."

"And the glyphs? It can make those as well?"

He gave a non-committal shrug. "In theory, I guess, but in practice it takes aura manipulation to get it right. It can certainly weave dust into the material; standard stuff, but the glyphs still require a glyph user to get correctly. On the non-fabric material I have to stand at the machine and feed it Aura while it runs the patterns through, but it can make them then. If you'd had the chance you should have taken a look at some of the armor I made for Pyrrha and Jaune."

She paused. "Can you weave the glyphs to transport you through time?"

"Well, yes and no. Obviously it can replicate the pattern, but the problem is that it doesn't work unless I use it. The time dilation and acceleration glyphs work fine, but the temporal displacement glyph is more complicated. I think it requires active control from the glyph user to manipulate. It also takes a lot more power; I can store the power necessary in the other glyphs, but I think that one would drain the user completely and probably kill them."

He cleared space on his couch for her to sit, moving boxes of parts and raw material onto the floor. She noticed a set of military crates off to the side of the room. "What are those?" He waved her over, unlocking the case on top and throwing back the heavy lid. Inside was an exact replica of his Opticor, along with ten magazines.

"These are for delivery to your father, for demonstration purposes. The last one was still in the lathe when I returned." She gestured to pick it up, and he nodded. She lifted it up out of the crate, heaving a bit to get it up and into position on her shoulder. "It's not loaded, but the dust crystal for the ionization laser is installed. Harmless without the payload." She depressed the trigger, the laser lighting up and the mechanism spinning as if there was a charge to fire, and then shutting off.

"A bit heavy, isn't it?"

"It's really an anti-armor weapon. Useful against large or heavily armored grimm. The Boltor in the case below this is more on the lighter side." While she still held the bulk of the weight, he closed the upper crate, shifted it off to the floor, and then reached over to unlock and open the lower crate, revealing the rifle and ten loaded magazines as well. "Electric dust powers electromagnets which propel the steel bolt out at near hypersonic speed. They're thin enough that the pressure will let them penetrate grimm bone armor of up to 8 centimeters or more, but the won't do enough damage to large grim unless fired in number. The firerate is pretty high, though. The magazine hold 60 rounds, and it has a fire rate of 300 rounds per second."

"That's impressive! You invented these?"

He shook his head. "I don't remember who actually invented them; I just memorized the plans and brought them back from the future. They're actually quite simple designs, despite how they look. I bought the laser from the local hunter store; there's more work involved in creating the magazines and the plasma to put into them than the actual Opticor. Still takes the nanolathe to get the construction right, though. Too much precision needed for anything else. I suppose you could build these on a large scale with less precision. Put them on one of Atlas' destroyers or something." He took the Opticor from her, putting it back into it's delivery case, as she pulled out the Boltor and shouldered it, aiming down the sight.

"Weight seems good, feels like the stock is wooden." She lowered it back down, returning it to it's case. "A bit overly decorative, don't you think?"

"My originals are mostly wood; it makes them lighter than the composite metal the SDC is likely to use in mass production. The decorative nature is because the original I made for Jaune, and then one for myself. You know there's a functionality to style with hunters." She nodded and closed the case for him, then helped him stack the Opticor back on top of it. "My best work is on armor, though. Ruby, that's Weiss' partner, she taught me about making weapons, but I have a better knack at armor." He picked up a pair of leggings, made from the same nanoweave ballistic material that was in the nanolathe. "These are for her, Ruby that is." He pulled them open to show her the glyphs woven into the fabric with wind dust. "Because the material is air tight, it gets too hot too quickly. It's can't breathe. The glyph gets powered by the wearer's aura, but will keep the air underneath cool and moving a bit, enough so it should feel somewhat liek she's not even wearing them. It'll also provide her legs better protection than her current leggings. I made a pair for Weiss and Blake as well."

Winter picked up a longer coat, brown like his duster, but smaller in the shoulders, split down the back, and short in the front. The sleeves were long, but trolled up and attached on the side. Inside the coat were similar cooling and airflow glyphs, but in the sleeves were others. "And who is this for?" He took it from her, a small smile on his face.

"Ruby's sister, Yang. My girlfriend."

"I see. There's a lot more worksmanship in it than the others." He nodded.

"Same material, some thinner armor plates are woven into it, with mass-reduction glyphs to make it move easier and not hang and drop like an armored coat. The sleeves also have some special glyphs to make them more resistant to cutting edges reinforced with dust."

Winter's eyes widened. "You can do that with a glyph?"

Blanc pulled out a piece of paper on which he'd drawn the glyph to use as a reference. "it dissipates energy when triggered by damage. The moment the fabric begins to cut nearby, the glyph will pull all the energy from the cutting object; both the kinetic and whatever else. Red fire dust is typically used to make blades cut through armor. This will dissipate all of that, and charge itself from it, to boot. The more they get hit, the stronger the protection. At least until the fabric the glyph is on takes too much damage. That's why woven into the inner, secondary layer. Might feel a bit stiff, but less so than the rigid armor plates, and it'll offer better protection."

"Why the arms? Why not the whole body?"

"Too many glyphs required to cover the whole body. She'd find it draining during combat on her aura unless it was getting regular cutting damage. And it does nothing for blunt force. They're in the arms because I have a reason to believe Yang will need that, specifically."

She turned away. "More future knowledge? You know that's dangerous. What if something different happens? What if instead of having her arm cut, her opponent runs her through?"

"I can't protect her from everything possible. I just do what I can in anticipation of what I expect. This coat's a bit heavy for summer, but it'll work well for fall through winter. And it'll look great on her when she's on her motorcycle. She loves that thing." Turning back to him, Winter could see the genuine love in his eyes.

"The arc girl, Noisette. She tells me you're planning on dying. You don't see a future for yourself with Yang? You seem very invested in the relationship."

"I don't have much of a future at all. No matter what. This power we have? It's not supposed to be mine. Eventually, it'll obey you, and you'll be able to use it and live in harmony. I have to fight it, constantly, and if I lose control, it'll destroy everything. It's powerful, but it's not mine to keep, and I already told you what it takes for it to change hands."

The nanolathe finished with a quiet bell chime, and then opened, revealing the completed coat. Blanc removed it, setting it on the table, and then opened another crate and began to pull armored plates from it to insert into the coat. The plates already had glyphs on them to reduce their mass, and were shaped like rectangular strips rather than squares, long on one side, and the coat had pre-made pockets for fitting them, which Blanc then sewed shut after he'd filled them all. She sat quietly on the couch and watched him work. When he'd finished sewing in the plates, he lifted the coat and slipped it on.

"Well, what do you think?"

"It suits you. Like it was made for you." He grinned back at her smirk, then slipped it off his shoulders.

"Okay, this is the part you'll be more interested in. Dust thread is common, so I didn't need to manufacture this. I'm just going to stencil the pattern for the glyph and then sew the dust thread into the pattern on the inside of the coat. It needs to be a constant thread; if you break the thread before the glyph is finished then it won't be complete even if you attached new thread to it." She noticed he had a lot of spools of dust thread in a box nearby, for which he extracted the same white-ice thread She'd seen inside the leggings. "The thread is pretty strong, so it's just a matter of sewing it in and the glyphs turn out to be rather tolerate of imperfections, like extra length, or having some of the glyph under the fabric and not visible, which is why the glyphs look like stitching. The only other requirement is that while you thread the glyph, you have to feed it aura so it'll activate and charge. I suppose you could do this afterward, but I'm not sure it'd work for people who don't have a semblance that lets them use glyphs naturally, and this does. I also don't know if the glyph has to be sewn by a glyph user; I've never seen anyone else do this. Dust weaving is common, of course, but no one weaves glyphs. Well, until now, anyway."

"So, the glyph uses your aura's power, and when that drains?"

"It'll slowly absorb power from the wearer. Here, take a look at this." He pushed over a piece of paper, showing a particularly odd knot. "Believe it or not that forms a glyph. There are a few different ways to do it to get specific triggering effects, and depending on their placement inside the other glyph or glyphs, it will affect the timing of how that's drawn. I figured it out by trial and error mostly, but it's somewhat predictable once you figure out a few baselines, and all of that's been dictated in a patent document sent to your father on behalf of the SDC. And yes, I did invent this, so I don't feel bad patenting the way I did about the weapons in the cases over there."

"If you feel so bad about the weapons, why make them? Why patent them?"

"Because humanity is going to need them, sooner than they were available, and the SDC won't make them unless they own the patent." She nodded in understanding.

"This is going to transform the clothing industry, and I imagine our military supply division is going to be much more profitable this year. Our only real competition will be Atlas Autometa."

"Polendina's company?" At her nod, he continued. "Hey. I'm not sure how to ask this, and maybe we need to talk to Ironwood first, but... I'll need your help with something. It has to do with what's coming, or more specifically, Atlas' automaton weapons, and how they get hacked." She raised her eyebrow but waited. "I need to find the person who invents the hack, or how they take over the mechanized units. I've got a trace program hidden in the CCT System to help track who hacks it, but if we want to stop it, we need to know more about the hack. I think it comes out of Polendina's company."

"That makes the most sense. The SDC makes some defense droids but they're not popular with the current procurement division. To be frank, they're not as effective as Autometa's droids, nor as inexpensive to purchase."

"They also have all of their control mechanisms on-board, and Autometa's don't. That's a security flaw that will let our enemy take control of them, all at once. It makes them better at fighting for an army since you can control them from one place or issue more complicated orders than 'defend this' or 'destroy that' but it also makes it possible to neutralize them all instead of having to destroy them individually, like SDC's droids."

"They're still cheaper, and that makes all the difference, Blanc."

"This event will get them all outlawed. Too many civilian deaths. We ended up using drones instead, which required individual pilots in nearby control vehicles, which left them vulnerable to being overrun. I'd like to try to prevent that future as well, and save Ruby's friend Penny if possible."

"Penny?"

"Penny Polendina. Ruby told me about her a couple of times; never very specific but I guess it was the first death she'd ever witnessed, and Pyrrha kills her because of something one of our enemies does to affect her mind."

"I wasn't aware the doctor had a daughter."

"She's already in Vale. I saw her with Ruby earlier this year. Orange hair; and I don't mean copper but a sort of artificial orange. I'm pretty sure she's an android." That caught the specialist's attention.

"Indeed? That makes sense for him. As far as I know he's never had a spouse or romantic partner. At least, not one publicly known. It wouldn't have surprised me to find he'd had a daughter by some liason; he is wealthy and those things happen. It certainly fits his personality to make his own. But that's a significant improvement in artificial intelligence."

"She also has Aura."

"He imbued an artificial construct with a soul?" Blanc shrugged. "I'm both intrigued and disturbed. I wonder..."

"You think maybe he had an actual daughter, and something happened to her, so he somehow moved her into the android body? Yeah, Ruby thought so too. She used to pick up this book; it was fiction, mind you. 'A man with two souls'. Ever heard of it? Anyway, she'd pick it up and say 'If a man can have two souls in one body, why couldn't a machine hold one?' but... it was a fictional book."

"Well it should be obvious to you that not every story we think is fictional actually is. I never believed the four maidens would be true, either."

He chuckled. "Fair enough, you have me there. Anyway, do you think you could introduce me somehow?"

"And when would you have time to do this, Blanc?"

"I don't have a team, so when the first years are doing their first missions this semester, I'm going to have my fair share of available time. Don't worry about Ozpin or Goodwitch, I can explain it to them."

"Very well, I'll see what I can do. I do believe you'd have better luck if you went through the general, though. I can definitely get you in touch with him."

"That's a good idea. I think he'll want to meet anyway. Thanks Winter." She replied with a nod, then watched him begin work on another glyph. The remained that way until late into the evening, when Winter finally tired and retired to his room. Blanc worked through the night, completing the coat, packing new clothes into the bag he'd purchased, and wrapping his winter gifts for his friends in Patch.

* * *

I apologize for how long it's been since I updated this story. I've been trying to take the useful advice from my reviews; particularly about how I handle dialogue, and I think you can see it in later chapters, but frankly, between season 5 and some writer's block, I just haven't had the urge to write this out until recently.

I wouldn't have believed it, but Season 5 is even more dull than season 4. I've not seen the finale yet, but meh.

On another note, I do believe this story will be picking up, at least with action. There's going to be some 'maiden training' coming, and some good old fashioned violence. Time's growing short for Blanc and he's going to have to be doing his own thing more often than before, but it'll come back together in various places.

This story started off with Weiss and Ruby being a thing, and that's not really changed. I think Ruby's a bit autistic in how she seems to fail to understand interpersonal interactions; mildly perhaps, but she seems to blunder repeatedly. Here that's represented in a rather abrupt prompt to Weiss about her feelings which short-circuits the normal teenage dancing around needlessly, and gives Weiss the excuse she needs. And as a father myself, I know how I'd feel about my future fifteen-year-old daughter being caught in a potentially sexual situation with someone two years her senior (at least if the other partner is female, there's no fear of pregnancy).

I also apologize for the length of this chapter. It's mostly filler, but it's required to progress forward without problems dealing with how Blanc got his coat back.

Finally, for those of you paying attention, a lot of the clothing described is similar to the post-time-skip outfits. Yang's coat above, for example, should look a lot like the one from Season 5. Yang's proposed outfit for Blake in the previous chapter is intended to be her outfit from Season 4 and 5. I wonder why no one gives RT shit for having all of their characters wear the same outfits almost all the time. Uniforms I can understand, but no one changes clothes at all in season 4 or 5, and they're not in uniform. And, what is with Weiss' walk? I mostly like the improved visuals of later seasons, but this season it looked to me like Weiss was constantly walking in a way that suggested she'd just been fucked. It really didn't look natural at all. This wasn't something on other characters that I noticed but it bugged me endlessly. Sorry, I just had to vent about that.


	46. Chapter 46

**Pond behind Xiao Long Home, Late afternoon**

Blake sat on a log in front of the lake, watching as Weiss paced back and forth.

"I'm not sure how this happened. I've always liked boys before; I mean... at first I didn't even like Ruby, like, at all. I wish my sister was here."

Blake listened but didn't respond. It didn't look like Weiss really wanted a response, anyway.

"I mean, Ruby's a bit naive but it's not like I was forcing myself on her. She asked me out, Blake. Me. Not the other way around. Besides, she's pretty cute. And she tastes good." Weiss suddenly looked over at Blake, her face a bit afraid.

"Oh, don't worry. I don't have a problem with it. I was in a relationship with a girl when I was Ruby's age."

Weiss sighed, nodded, and then resumed pacing. "Maybe he's right. Maybe I should back off."

"Maybe you should. Don't you think that's something you and Ruby should decide, though?"

"When did you get so smart, Blake?" The faunus huffed in annoyance, but smiled when Weiss offered to pull her up and took the offered hand. "Do you think they'll be okay?"

Blake nodded, and they began to walk around the lake. "Ruby and Yang know this area well, and they're capable of taking care of themselves."

"Do you think they'll make me leave?"

Blake shook her head. "Yang told me that her dad doesn't have a problem with it. I doubt he will, but Yang wouldn't let him. And if they tried we'd all eave together; we can all go back to Beacon if we have to."

"What do you think I should do about Ruby?"

"I think you should talk to her. Why don't we go back to the house and wait for her to come back?"

The two talked amicably as they returned. Weiss was grateful for Blake's support, and a bit worried about Ruby.

When they arrived, they found a sheepish pair of sisters waiting for them, full of apologies for their behavior and for their uncle. Or dad, as the case may be.

"I am not calling you sister/cousin. That makes it sound like our parents were siblings." Ruby was responding to Yang's teasing.

"Well, they do say your team is your family while you're at Beacon, so..."

Weiss took Ruby's hand. "Honestly... Ruby, can we talk?" When the girl nodded, Weiss lead them off into the house.

"So, guess that just leaves us kitty-kat. Whatever shall we do?"

Blake shrugged but said nothing.

"Let's hit a club tonight, dance and get our flirt on!"

"Yang, I'd really rather not. Besides, isn't..." but Yang wasn't going to let her finish. The blonde reached over and closed her friend's mouth, holding a finger over her lips.

"Nope, we're going. Maybe those two will go with us, but you and I should hit the town tonight. Well, what little of it there is. Besides, we just got those new clothes and I think you'd look incredible in what we picked out."

"You mean what you picked out for me."

"Whatever. Come on!" Yang pulled the faunus into the house, and up the stairs, laughing. Even Blake had to smile.

 **Beacon Airfield, the following morning**

Winter was not a morning person. She'd slept a few hours in Blanc's bed, surprised at the lack of smell and how tidy it'd been, and stumbled into his bathroom to do her morning routine. There were two toothbrushes, but unable to tell which was his and which wasn't, she decided she'd deal with her morning breath and take care of it on board the Stygian, which had all of her toiletries, and better, her own toothbrush.

The Stygian had been a graduation gift from her father, despite his reluctance to let her enter Atlas. He'd seen the advantages of letting her, willingly, join the Atleasian military, and her successful entry into the specialist program guaranteed her a rank with command upon completion. Not just something to be proud of, but something the SDC could potentially use in future contract negotiations for Dust and other profitable ventures.

It wasn't really a combat vessel, though it was fast and equipped for long trips, with larger than typical fuel tanks and extra storage areas at the cost of some of the more luxurious accommodations available on similarly sized yachts. It's armor was significant, however. Jacque Schnee may be controlling and greedy, but he did not toy with the lives of his children, even if they weren't eligible to run his financial empire.

She knew he'd hoped to persuade Weiss into taking over after him, and failing that to make herself useful to their family business in some capacity, but she also suspected that in the end it wouldn't happen. Weiss hadn't inherited much of her father's make; other than her hair coloring, she looked almost completely like their mother. She had inherited his temperament, however, which made for some explosive fights. Whereas she got along rather well with her father, having a temperament more like their mother, Weiss and their father grated on each other constantly, despite Weiss always seeking his approval. Whitley was conniving; seemingly easy to control while apt at plotting and being patient, and having their mother wrapped around his finger. She was level headed and straight forward, easily accepting direction from authority and also giving direction. Weiss was very independent. Like her father, she wanted to succeed on her own merits.

She knew that Weiss thought her father married her mother for the family name and company, but their mother had told Winter a different story. Jacque had been a dispossessed refugee from a small village outside Mantle. He'd survived the destruction of that village and the loss of his family, and worked from being an orphan with no name into a leader in her father's company. Intelligent and with the right combination of risk-taking and discretion, he'd been leading the SDC in all but name even before their grandfather had stepped down into retirement, and the boss' daughter fell into lust, and then love, with him. She'd pursued him, and everything he'd achieved had been on his own merits. And in that, he and Weiss were the same.

No one handed Weiss success. She had the financial advantages of her heritage and the education it could afford, but she'd taken advantage of the opportunities available rather than settle for what was handed to her, and earned her reputation rather than depending on her parents. Weiss' mother had been taken in by drink and socialization, and while Winter had enjoyed the attention of both her parents, Weiss had seen them become more and more separated as she grew up; Whitley being the result of what was likely their last night together. Winter was aware that her mother had then gone through a succession of men, while still remaining to her work-aholic father, but they lived in different residences and rarely spoke, and as Winter's mother had aged, she'd taken on a perspective on men that was destructive and self-indulgent. Her affairs were the fault of their father, not her own weakness and lust. Winter no longer spoke to her mother, but she knew that the woman had a greater hand in Weiss' upbringing, and worried at what such an attitude might do to her and Whitley.

But Weiss had succeeded despite Winter's fears. She didn't know Weiss' attitude about men; they didn't talk about their love interests, if Weiss was old enough to even consider such things seriously, but Weiss' musical career, which her father had encouraged despite his desire for her to take over for him at the SDC, had taken off, and talent wasn't something you could fake with an appeal to the successes of your parents. Her academic career had been stellar as well, and her admittance into Beacon, despite Winter's preference for Atlas, was another feather in Weiss' cap, especially because she'd had to hire the private tutoring herself; her father refused to support another daughter risking her life as a huntress.

But now she'd seen the results of Weiss as a parent. Blanc was covered in scars and poorly healed wounds. The thin lines were undoubtably the result of her sister, and she couldn't attribute the abuse to either of her parents. Jacque was stubborn and could be heavy handed, but he'd never once struck her, or to Winter's knowledge, any child or their mother. And while their mother could have a biting tongue, she wasn't the sort to physically attack anyone. Blanc's explanation of training might make sense, but what sort of person trains a child by stabbing them? There were too many to be accidents.

And yet, this was a future person; how could she condemn the sister she loved for something she hadn't yet done.

Blanc was carrying his bag containing his clothing and equipment on board. He was wearing his new duster, which while a lot darker than the previous version she'd seen in the screens of him fighting, looked a lot sharper on him and fit his shape better, if only for the way the black fibers contrasted with his coloring. She heard the approach, and while remaining relaxed, dropped her hand to the hilt of her blade.

"I doubt there will be any need for violence, Ms. Schnee. Or may I call you Winter? General Ironwood sends his regards."

She turned to face Professor Ozpin. "I expect you are correct. Is there something I can do for you or the General?"

He shook his head. "No. I'd hoped to see you both off and perhaps have a word with my student."

"We were about to depart, but I have not yet requested clearence from control, so that should be acceptable. Please give me a moment to get his attention."

Blanc stepped off the ramp. "No need. Good morning, Professor."

"Good morning, Blanc. It is good to see you. I hadn't expected you back so early. It's my understanding you'll be spending the remainder of your break in Patch with the Xiao Long family?" Blanc nodded. "Please, extend my regards and mention to Taiyang that his skills would be welcome at our prestigious institution."

"I doubt he would have built a home in Patch if he'd intended to work at Beacon."

Ozpin chuckled. "Oh, I know. It annoys him that I always ask, so of course I continue to do so. Besides, with all of his children now here, one would think his interests might have changed. I'm sure Signal Academy could find an instructor to replace him by the time the next semester comes around."

"Well, I'll be sure to mention it then. Was that all? You could have scrolled him yourself."

"Not quite, no. I was wondering if we could speak about some particulars regarding your upcoming education."

Blanc figured this for code. "Why don't we talk inside. Winter is aware of the particulars of our relationship." Ozpin's eyebrow rose, but he seemed to accept the suggestion and walked up the ramp. Blanc followed him, and Winter behind, closing the ramp and joining them in her small living room.

"Blanc, how much does Winter know?"

"Well, to start with I clued her in on being a maiden. Shouldn't Ironwood have done that by now?"

Ozpin looked down and chuckled, then raised his eyes to look at her. "We find it's usually easier if they come to us when we know the new maiden. The change isn't always immediate, as in Winter's case sometimes there is a delay in the manifestation of the maiden's power, and it's easier on the new maiden if we allow them to broach the topic and help them to understand what's happening to them in such cases. If we have to seek the maiden out then we have to use a more direct approach to explain our presence and the need for our protection. Winter, I'm sorry but your case has been an especially long instance and I don't know that James is aware of your transformation. Have you been keeping it secret?" She nodded, and he continued. "I'll be certain to let him know at once. Perhaps you should head to him at once and let me take care... you said she's aware of your relationship, correct? Is she aware of all the aspects of that term?"

Blanc shrugged. "She knows I'm her nephew from the future and that I also contain the fall aspect. I offered to help her with her powers because I remember how she helped me with mine."

Ozpin stared at him saying nothing. "Well then, I suppose it does make sense for you to continue with your nephew. I'll be sure to let the General know; you should expect he'll either want Winter to return to where he can ensure her safety, or to join you himself."

Blanc rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, does he still not get along with Grandpa Qrow?"

Winter glared at him. "You didn't say anything about Qrow."

Blanc looked bewildered. "I didn't know I was supposed to." He looked over at Ozpin, seeing the sly grin on his face. "You cheeky bastard..." he whispered under his breath.

"Very well, if I must I will tolerate him." She then left the room, headed up to the cockpit.

Ozpin chuckled. At Blanc's confused look, he responded. "There was a rumor that Qrow and Winter had taken up with each other, and then suddenly neither could stand being around the other. While I make a joke of it, you should consider how disruptive they'll be when together. Are you certain you going to Patch is a good idea? I can offer facilities here, or I'm sure General Ironwood could make some accommodations."

Blanc sighed. "An Arc keeps their word, Professor. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. I expect you'll be returning directly from Patch, probably with James and Winter among your group. Our group will want to talk then. You should be prepared to present your plan to stop this coming catastrophe you have warned us about at that time, so that we can work with our Atlas partners in preventing it."

"Okay. I'll make sure I'm ready. I think I should tell you that I'll probably have to go to Atlas; I need to talk to Dr. Polendina."

Ozpin looked concerned. "He is a notoriously private man. I will speak with James to see if he can help you with this."

Blanc rose, shaking the professor's hand, and walked with him to lower the ramp and allow him to exist the Stygian. "Thanks for everything, Professor."

"Blanc, I know that time is short and you have a great deal on your mind. I believe there may be a way to complete your mission without necessitating the sacrifice you claim. Are you open to it?"

Blanc paused a moment. "We can talk about it when I return. I'm not sure there's much point."

"Oh? And why would that be, Mr. Arc?"

Blanc didn't answer, instead shutting the ramp. As the Stygian's engines began to ramp up, Ozpin walked away. He'd known so many men and women in his time, but only a few had seemed so bent on self-destruction, yet in all that time, only this man seemed to be going into it with his eyes open. He couldn't deny that Blanc had a rational reason for his choice, but he'd hoped that he would develop an irrational reason to avoid it. When he and Glynda had discovered the relationship between their students Yang and Blanc, he'd thought that might be it.

He returned to his office as Winter's yacht left Beacon headed southwest toward Patch. It was time to call his friend and counterpart in Atlas.

* * *

 **Xiao Long home, Patch, late morning**

Yang groaned and covered her eyes from the sun filtering in through the window on her right. Her head ached, her eyes hurt, and the noise from outside wasn't helping. It sounded like someone was cracking a tree in half, but she knew the sound of chopping wood well enough from personal up-close experience, doing the chore herself, to know that was what it was. She also felt grimy and a bit sticky. And she was nude.

"I wish he'd stop. My head is pounding." Blake was laying next to her. They were together, in bed, and she was nude. Looking under the cover briefly, she needed to correct herself. They were both nude. "Remind me next time you want to go out while you're angry not to join you in any drinking contests.

"Blake, what did we do?"

Blake looked over at her, eyes lidded and he hand trying to cover her eyes. "What are you talking about? We went drinking and dancing last night, remember?"

"Not really. I remember coming back and sort of dragging you off to change and... that's not what I mean. Why are we naked?"

Blake closed her eyes, sighed, and replied. "I need coffee. Do you want some?" She then got up, not at all self-conscious about her nudity in front of Yang. Yang's eyes still hurt, but she had to admit her friend and partner had a gorgeous figure. Blake slipped on her panties, then began to dress. "Are you going to get dressed? The coffee will help. I think."

"Are you going to leave the room?"

"Why? I've already seen you naked. We had sex, Yang. What do you have to be self-conscious about now? Besides, you look great, even like this with your hair messed up."

"I feel gross. I'm covered in dry sweat and... I don't know. I don't remember doing... this."

"You don't? Do... do you regret it?"

Yang turned to look at her, mustering her courage and then slipping out of the covers to get her own clothes on. The strange thing is that she'd never been shy about being nude in front of Blake or the others before; not really. She'd never paid attention to it before. Sitting on the bed to pull on her boots, she replied, thinking she'd probably made Blake too nervous by not responding for so long. "I don't know. I never thought about it before. Now I have to worry about what the others will think, and about what happens to us, and how things are going to be when Blanc... oh. Oh dust. What've I done. What'd you make me do?"

She turned and her eyes were red. Blake put her hands up. "Look, I didn't make you do anything. You came onto me."

Lilac. "What? But... I mean you're beautiful but I never..."

Blake responded, scrutinizing her closely. "Never? You never thought about it? Do you mean being with a woman, or being with me? Honestly?"

"No, I can't honestly say that. You know, idle thoughts and... well you're hot, you know? But I never meant to act on it."

"Well, neither did I, but we did. How about we get that coffee and talk about it? My head is killing me." Blake didn't wait for an answer and left the room.

"Dust damned it, what've I done." Blanc entered her thoughts, and then she remembered; he was supposed to call her. She decided to check her scroll. She'd had to search for it, finally finding it under the bed where she'd found her shorts. Three missed scrolls and two memos. "I'm a shitty person."

"I don't know about that. You were taking a long time, so I brought you coffee up. It really does help. What's going on?" Blake had gone and retrieve coffee while Yang searched.

Yang reached out to her and took the cup. "I was supposed to talk to Blanc, but not only did I miss his calls, I spaced it and never called him back. He's on his way here; he'll be here ... dust he'll be here in a few minutes at this rate. What am I going to do Blake? I can't greet him with a hangover looking like I just got fucked, which I did, and trying to explain to him how I got drunk and cheated on him with my partner!"

"Why not? It explains why you didn't answer my calls." She turned. She'd never seen a harder face on him in the short time she'd known him.

"Blanc, I..."

Blake tried to whisper to her. "I didn't know he was here! I swear!"

"I wasn't. We just got here, and Qrow said you were inside. I may not be a faunus, Blake, but I'm not deaf either. I take it you were both drunk, then?" He quietly shut the door behind him. He looked like he'd just arrived; he still wore his duster and she could see the handle of one of his tonfa through the gap. He looked mouthwatering. Underneath the coat his shirt was tight, showing his abdominal muscles. "We don't have a great deal of time; Winter's here and so is Qrow. I had no idea they hated each other so much."

Yang looked confused. "Who's here?"

"Weiss' sister. I guess she and Qrow know each other. Pretty well if their screamed descriptions of each other are at all accurate. And what's with Ruby and Weiss?"

From outside, they heard Winter scream. "You're doing what with her? She's 15, Weiss!"

"Oh." Blanc didn't look as shocked as she thought he should. "Okay. So explain. I'm here and it's too late to lie to me. What's going on?"

Blake looked like she'd rather be anywhere else. "I'll just... I'll just go."

"No, you'll just stay. You've made yourself part of this."

Blake responded angrily "What are you going to do, Blanc? Hit me? Are you going to fight me for her?" Blake stepped into his face, huffing, close enough to feel his breath on her cheeks.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll fuck you both." She stepped back, startled at the response, and even Yang looked shocked. He sighed. "Maybe I'll just walk away. See if Winter can take me back to Beacon. I really don't know. Was it a mistake? I mean, did you get confused about who you were with?" He was talking to Yang.

"I don't know. I... I don't remember." He turned to face Blake. "Did you...? of course not. I'm being stupid. Look, it happened. Dust, your relationship with her is stronger than your relationship with me, Yang. I guess I should have expected this. Maybe it's for the best."

She wanted to speak up, say something... anything. She couldn't find the words.

He turned to the faunus. "Not going to speak up? Take all the blame, or put it on her? What did I ever do to either of you that you would do this to me?"

"Nothing. You didn't do anything to me, or to Yang. I just... we went drinking and dancing and we were flirting and it got out of hand."

He leaned forward, into her space as she'd moved into his earlier. "I can smell her on you. You two haven't even showered. Dust... I need to think." He turned and left the room. Neither moved or said a word until they heard a door slam. The yelling outside stopped.

Blake turned toward her, finally. "I'm so sorry Yang. It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"Blake, it wasn't supposed to be at all. I was... I am involved with someone. But it's not your fault. It's mine. Oh, what am I going to do?"

There was a knock on the door, which swung open the rest of the way. In the doorway stood her uncle, who leaned on the frame, hands in his pockets.

"Well, that was a short conversation, firecracker. What happened to..." he looked between them. "Oh. Ohhhh. I guess that explains it. Your boy charged off without a word, and Winter left after him. Hadn't even had time to get to the fun part." He turned, reaching for the knob to quietly shut the door as he left. "I'll let you two talk about this." The door closed, but they could hear him ranting about something in the water at Beacon. Blake didn't turn toward Yang, waiting, but Yang said nothing.

"Maybe we should take a shower. Showers. Separately." Blake took her shower kit off the dresser and left the room, quietly closing the door behind her as Yang began to cry.

* * *

 **Pond near Xiao Long home, Patch**

"Can you at least tell me why you're out here marching back and forth like that? I'm getting tired just watching you." Winter had followed him. At first she'd said nothing, but her patience was wearing thin.

"I... its personal. She... she had sex with her partner. They'd just got up; I could still smell it in the room. Dust damned it... I don't know what to do."

Winter said nothing, waiting, but his pacing continued. "Don't do anything. Why is this a problem? They're both women, correct? You wouldn't need to worry about her getting pregnant."

Blanc stared at her. "She cheated on me. We've been away from each other for a week, maybe, and in that time she's already cheated on me. With her partner, who she sleeps in a room with every day. I mean... their relationship is stronger. They've spent more time together, and... Dust what do I do."

"What's the part in this that bothers you, Blanc? That she was unfaithful in a relationship that'd barely begun? That it's her partner?"

"She'll leave me for Blake. It makes sense; Dust, I should want her to... I'm a broken mess who's going to die soon anyway. I mean, if I loved her wouldn't I want her to be happy? Maybe..."

She got up, putting her hand on his shoulder to turn him to her. "Is that what you want? I doubt that's what she wants. Look, I'm not exactly the best source for this. I've cheated on every romantic partner I've ever had, including Qrow."

"So that's why you two don't get along?"

"It's... more complicated than that, and a lot of it's his business. I may not respect his alcoholism or the way he lives his life, but..."

"So it's about Summer? What'd you do, bring home a girl who looked like her to share with him?" At her deadpan stare he responded "Sorry, Dust, I'd have never thought. Did that... does that work?"

"What, bringing home a copy of your sexual partner's dead spouse so he maybe he can work out some of his issues? Not particularly, no."

Blanc coughed. "Uh, no. I meant bringing... having another person in your relationship."

"Well, not for most people I suppose, but it wasn't a problem for us until then. Or maybe it was and he just put up with it. I'll probably never be a monogamous person, Blanc."

"Huh, okay. You know, this isn't how I expected our relationship might be. You're actually much more... maternal than I remembered."

"Well, I had hoped to see Weiss, and I did, but I... I hadn't expected she'd take up with Qrow's neice."

"You know about his wife but you don't know about Ruby?"

"Wait, you do? Oh, of course you do. Well, yes it came up while we were together. You don't stay romantically involved with a widower for more than a year and not know some secrets about his personal life and relationships. I suppose that's another reason we don't get along so well anymore. I didn't realize anyone else knew."

"Well, you can thank me for that. I wasn't aware she didn't, and spilled the beans."

Winter nodded but said nothing.

"Okay, well, how about I try to take my mind off this for a bit and we'll start some of your training. No one followed us, and I've been keeping my eyes open to see if there were any visitors or strange avians. We should be okay to start working on understanding your power." He gestured for her to sit on a log, then sat next to her, their backs to the lake, eyes open and watching for anyone. She did her part as well, but listened attentively.

"So, some of this is what you taught me, and some of it is what I discovered on my own. Part of this process is just that, discovering how it works for you on your own. I can only guide you so much. First, there are a few aspects you should be aware of. Your power is magical in nature; no one can explain it via science. It's also grounded around the concept of the season; winter in your case. By concept, I mean what you think when you think of winter. What you think of, personally, okay? So what do you associate with the season of Winter?"

"Snow, Cold, Wind... clear skies. Ice. Seeing your breathe."

"Those are good, most of them are obvious. Clear skies?"

"Growing up, I remember being fascinated with the way the sun reflected off the snow outside our home. Not quite a mirror. It always seemed like, if it wasn't snowing, that the sky was so much more clear and cloud-free than in the other seasons. I suppose it's not, actually, but it felt that way."

"That's good. Your powers will be associated with the things you think about when you think about the season your aspect represents. Cold and Wind are obvious, so a lot of what you can do, and already do I imagine, revolve around that. What that also means is that as your concept of what winter as a season represents to you grows, so will the variety of what you can do with your power. Does that make sense?"

"No, it doesn't. Why would the power change because of what I think about it?"

"Because it's magic, remember? It's a power rooted to a concept of the season of winter, and how you interpret that will shape how the magic represents that concept in the world. This is what I want you to think about while you meditate."

"This sounds insane. Who told you these things?"

"You did. Now, for the part you'll undoubtable discover on your own but will freak you out, so I'm going to save you some of that. It works a bit differently from me, but... well you're going to start hearing voices. They're both real and not real, okay? No one else can hear them, but they're not a manifestation of mental illness. The power itself... I don't know how to explain it. It keeps an impression of those who've held it before. The longer they held it and the more they used it, the more powerful and common their voice will be. And they'll also partially begin to shape your concept of Winter, do you get that? What I mean is that they'll start to make you think a certain way, and that will adjust what you think of as winter. That sounds bad, but it's not. There is a wide variety of experience among the voices; over a thousand years of it from woman to woman, and their thoughts about your season will have varied quite a bit in that time, and because the effects are sort of cumulative and selective, some things you wouldn't normally associate with Winter will seem to associate well for you, and will allow you to manifest your power in unique ways."

He looked around and stood up.

"For example, you might associate new life with Spring, and thus think it would be great for healing, but winter is often associated with cleansing and slowing, and so the winter aspect is good at clearing wounds, slowing and stopping bleeding, and preserving life. Now, having brought that to your attention, you'll start to find this ability manifest in you as your powers manifest, assuming you accept the concept of what I'm telling you."

She looked thoughtful. "How long does this process usually take?"

He sighed. "I couldn't honestly tell you that. I was born with my powers already manifested. And the voices? They're not friendly to me and they speak... they speak with the voices of people I know instead of those who held this gift before I did. And everything they say is hateful. I spent most of my childhood with whispers in my ear to commit suicide, spoken in your sister's voice, or Ruby's, or Qrows, or even for a time in your voice when you came to mentor me. It was you who taught me how to shut the voices out, and I can't thank you enough for that, because I'm certain it saved my life."

"So you no longer hear them? You can make them stop?"

"More like you can learn to consciously ignore them until they disappear, like ambient noise. I only hear them in my dreams, now."

"Can you converse with them?"

"Uh, I can't, but you could. I'm certain you'll be able to as well. Have you started to hear them?"

"I... I thought they were part of me going insane. I was afraid to tell anyone. I thought they'd remove me from active duty, and put me into a mental ward."

"I'm glad I could save you from that fear, though somehow you made it through without me before, so you would have again I'm sure. One thing about this... mentoring relationship between us? You need to understand that my experiences differ from what yours will be greatly. Both because I'm a man and because I've used my power to fight a losing war. You should embrace this power as part of who you are, but I can't do that. It'll always be adversarial with me."

"Perhaps you spent too much time around Qrow? Your life seems to be full of horrible things happening to you, over and over."

He barked out a laugh, unable to stop himself. "You may be right. And you don't even know the half of it." He sat next to her again, head slumped on his hands. She reached over and pulled him against her shoulder, holding him quietly.

"Blanc?"

"Yeah..."

"I think you should have a threesome with them both."

"Are all you huntresses perverts?"

She turned to look at him. "Did I ask to watch? Or to join in?" He shuddered. "Maybe if they're interested, you can find out if you can make it work. You're right; her partner is going to be with her for years to come; at least until they finish at Beacon. But it doesn't have to mean the end of your relationship. I can be the beginning of a new relationship instead."

"You're getting off on this aren't you."

"I'm not giving you advice I think is bad. I"m not telling you this because I think it's funny or because I find it sexually arousing. Honestly, if you don't want to do it, don't. But you're probably right in that your old relationship is over. I think if you want to stay with... Yang? Yes, well... if you want to stay with her, you'll have to figure out how to make things work. Maybe her partner will back off."

Blanc didn't think that would happen. Worse, how could he trust anything now? Yang knew too many of his secrets, and she had been having sex with someone he couldn't trust with them. One thing was certain, however. He couldn't wait any more; passive approaches to discovering Blake's nature and intent weren't working. He'd have to put her to the test, and soon. He thought about discussing it with Winter, but decided against it. Her mission was to keep him safe and secure; there's no way she'd let him do what he was planning.

It was time to take Blake on a ride out to visit some of her old friends, and see where she really stood.

* * *

I'm finding it harder to write this story. Mostly because Season 5 really wasn't very good, and somehow made Season 4 look better. The affair with Blake was something I pretty blatantly foreshadowed without showing Yang's end of it. I deleted the scene I wrote in the actual club, mostly because it was terrible. I also thought about making the affair just another tease in Blake's imagination, or even flipping it to be in Yang's, but I wanted Blanc to arrive and find out. I think it makes the betrayal so much worse when she's ignoring him and cheating, after everything he's been through, and while he's trying to deal with having cancer. And now he feels like he can't tell her anything, because he can't trust her, and he doesn't trust Blake.

The next chapter is going to be violent, so I'm warning you now. There may be descriptions of gore. This has also been planned for a while. Maybe if I write the action correctly you'll enjoy it.


	47. Chapter 47

**Arc Farm, Bastion, late afternoon**

Pyrrha woke to Jaune's gentle caressing. "Come on, we should get up and not sleep the day away." His parents had allowed them to share a room, his father begrudgingly after persuasion from his mother; something to do with the Mistrailian tradition. Jaune had been trying to pretend he didn't understand what that meant, which she found adorable.

"Do we need to help your family with something?"

He laughed. "It's a farm so I'm sure we can find something, but after helping dad mend a fences all morning, I think they have it covered." She suspected that mending fences had been something Jaune's father had made up in order to get his son alone to talk to him, but she didn't know the subject and decided she'd let Jaune tell her if he wished. "How about we train a bit before dinner."

She nodded, rising from the bed. They'd taken a nap together after he'd returned with his father, a regular feature of their time at his parent's home. Mostly from staying up too late and their mutually enjoyed intimacies. Without turning, she could tell Jaune was admiring the view, so she intentionally sashayed to put emphasis on her hips and her rear. She'd been wearing a simple t-shirt and some cut-off leggings that she'd borrowed from his sister. All told, she often made Pyrrha feel like a fashion doll; they'd spent the entire morning going through her closet and having Pyrrha try on various outfits, again. The woman had also gifted Pyrrha a set of unused lingerie, deep green in color and made of sheer lace. The brassier was a bit tight, but for how long Pyrrha expected she'd wear it once she put it on, acceptable. The thong underwear had covered little, not even her pubic hair, and if Pyrrha wasn't mistaken, she'd seen a hint of lust again in the face of Jaune's sister, but found it less disturbing than she had when she'd tried on that sweater.

Maybe that was because of how right the woman had been about how much Jaune would enjoy it on her, and while he was in her.

At any rate, they were leaving soon, and with the loss of their luggage, while Jaune had been able to resort to raiding what he'd left at home when he left for Beacon, Pyrrha needed some clothing while she was there, and for the longer trip home that they'd be leaving for the following day. Because of the travel time, their actual visit would be shorter than here in Bastion with his family, and they'd be coming straight back to Beacon. She'd tried to talk him into canceling the trip and staying with his family, but he'd been oddly insistent on going to Mistral to meet her parents, which made her suspicious as to his intent. She was hopeful, but wasn't prepared to be certain.

That they'd discussed the idea of marriage and family already, and she'd basically given her answer to him already, did lead her to think that was his intent, however, so she indulged him. She could easily afford the trip, and it would be good to see her mother and father.

She pushed the leggings down, slipping her fingers into her underwear as she did. She didn't usually sleep with underwear on, but during their naps she didn't bother to change, and she needed different underwear under her armor. She knew he was watching, and enjoyed the small groan from him as she bent at the waist, her womanhood in full view of her lover, to pull them off her ankles. She then pulled off the t-shirt and unhooked her bra, dropping them with the leggings and panties and folding them, taking her time while nude in front of Jaune. When he reached for her and pulled her back into bed, she laughed until she felt his erection, hot and hard, against her outer thigh as they wrestled, until she allowed him to pin her, stomach down, face turned to the side in a pillow, and his erection pressing against the crack of her ass.

"Jaune, we promised your dad not to do things like this in here."

"That's not what you said last night, or any other night, Pyr."

"Yes, but they were asleep."

"You wanted me to do this."

She laughed. "Of course I did. I wanted to tease you before our training." She rotated her hips a bit, and he fell over, only to have her straddle him, the length of his erection now pressed through his jeans between the lips of her vagina. She resisted the urge to grind, realizing she was already likely leaving a wet spot he'd have difficulty explaining. "Let me tell you what I have planned for you, Mr. Arc. I'm going to put you through your paces, and when you've satisfied me as your tutor, I'm going to take you somewhere we can be alone, and you'll satisfy me as your lover."

He barked out a laugh, but didn't disagree, as she got up from him to continue getting dressed. While she was putting on her armor; exquisite work that she'd never dreamed would be so light and move so well, she marveled as Jaune did the same. She looked like a golden avenging angel, but Jaune looked every bit the silver knight. His skills had vastly improved under the tutelage of herself and his son, moreso herself at this stage. Blanc had given Jaune a good basis to start from, and had shown her in doing so how to improve her own teaching methods. She'd been a novice at teaching, and it was obvious Blanc had trained specifically to teach them. She hadn't thought she had anything to learn, and as far as combat prowess, she'd learned rather indirectly from fighting and watching Blanc fight, but the time traveler had done wonders for her ability to impart her knowledge onto others. She now found herself with a desire to be an instructor as well as a champion and huntress. Jaune's son had been a wonder in both their lives. The memories of her dream, however, clouded her thoughts.

Now that Blanc was gone, the strange attraction she felt to him was gone as well, but her dreams seemed to be constantly full of him. Well, whenever they weren't her typical odd dreams she couldn't make sense of, or sex dreams about Jaune, or sometimes about other men. She was a huntress, after all. These new dreams seemed more like memories; more specifically, like Blanc's memories.

"Another dream about Blanc, Pyrrha?" He no longer had the jealousy of his son he'd seemed to have initially over this... connection.

"Yes. He was... he was floating in the air, and lightning filled the sky and wind... He seemed to have control over it. It felt like... well what I think being a god would feel like."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She turned to face him, her eyes glowing a bit, before she blinked and it went away, a small breeze dying down that neither had noticed until it was gone. "No, let's go train. I think I'll need to talk to him about it. You're not going to be jealous, are you?"

He smiled at her; that smile he seemed to reserve for her, filled with love and admiration. "No more than usual."

She rolled her eyes and chuckled, gathering their weapons and handing Crocea Mors to him. "Let's go get that practice in. I'm eager for the second half." She then sprinted from the room, Jaune following a moment later. Both of them were eager for her plans.

* * *

 **Xiao Long Home, early evening**

Blanc decided to return, so after a sufficient amount of time meditating on the nature of winter, or in his case, plotting what to do about Blake while worrying about his relationship with Yang, they returned. The family had already sat down to begin the evening meal, except for Yang who refused to leave her room. Winter followed him in; he'd settled on staying on her couch in her yacht and had left his bag there. Taiyang met them at the door, a scowl on his face.

"You seem to have a knack for upsetting my daughters, Arc."

Blanc said nothing. If the man wasn't aware of what happened in his home, then he didn't think it was his place to inform him, and if he was and was still angry at Blanc for it, then saying something wouldn't change anything.

"Da... Uncle Tai, please stop being mean to our friend. HE didn't do anything wrong." Blanc could count on Ruby being in his corner, evidently.

"Ruby, you can still call me dad if you want. I was your dad for nearly 15 years. That doesn't have to change."

Ruby looked frustrated. "Just let him in, please." She turned to face Blanc, her face softening into a smile. "I'm glad to see you. Sort of missed you earlier with all the arguing. We were just having dinner; won't you both join us?"

"Is Branwen still here?" Winter's voice barely hinted at nervousness.

"Not right now he's not. We're not sure if he'll show up or not. He does that; just sort of drops by when he feels like it." The change of subject softened the atmosphere as Taiyang stepped aside, allowing them through. Ruby led Blanc through the kitchen into a dinning room that looked a bit more formal than the table he'd seen that was likely the place the family usually ate, while Taiyang pulled Winter aside to talk to her. At the table were Weiss and Blake; a place setting had been put out for Yang next to Blake, with three additional settings. Taiyang's seat was at the head of the table, with Ruby next to it, then Weiss, and an empty place setting, presumably for Winter. Across the table was another empty place setting, probably for Yang, then Blake, and then an empty place setting, and one at the end. Blanc looked at the table and the arrangement around it, befuddled about how this was going to work.

"Ruby, I don't know. Maybe this isn't a good idea." Her face screwed up, and she blew out an frustrated breath.

"Just sit." She pushed him down into the chair next to Blake, who scooted away. "I'll be right back." With that, she left.

Blanc stared at Weiss, who looked between him and Blake, who pointedly stared at her as well, until both looked away from each other at exactly the same time.

"What's going on with you two?" Both turned toward the heiress but when it became apparent neither would speak, she tried again. "I asked what was going on? Yang won't come out of her room. She just sits in there crying; I've barely seen my sister because you marched out of here almost as soon as you arrived, and now even Ruby's acting strangely. Strangely for her, that is. I mean, I get why Mr. Xiao Long doesn't like you, but this is all upsetting Ruby when she was already pretty upset over how that buffoon of a father acted earlier. I mean, I was totally mortified but it was all completely uncalled for, and now this? I think I'm owed an explanation, at the least."

Both responded at the same time, telling her to ask the other party. They turned toward each other, comically opening their mouths, then closing them, then looking back at Weiss, opening their mouths to speak, saying her name at the same time, then promptly shutting up.

"Oh, for dust's sake."

Blanc instinctually looked at the door to the room, his eyes drawn to it by a feeling. In the doorway stood Yang. Her face was a mess, eyes puffy from crying all day, and she held a tissue that looked like it should have been thrown away hours before. "Um... Ruby said you were here." The silence became ackward when he just stared at her. There wasn't malice in his gaze; if anything it was a look of longing. Tired of waiting, Ruby pushed her sister forward, sitting her next to Blake and where her father would sit.

"The plate at the end of the table is for Uncle... for my dad." With that, the reaper sat herself next to Weiss. Winter and Taiyang followed, quickly going to their places. The food was already on the table, some sort of fish that Blanc didn't recognize, along with some bread, a potato dish, and a large salad. "I made the salad. There's plenty of food."

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Taiyang had already filled their plates, so starting with Winter and then moving to Blanc and finally Yang, food was passed again between them. Yang's plate was almost empty, which was slightly more than the completely untouched clean plate in front of Blanc. Blake, on the other hand, had an unsually large portion of the fish on her plate. It seemed likely the dish was made specifically with her in mind.

"My food not good enough for you?" Ruby sighed, but Yang spoke up.

"Dad, please. Enough."

"He made you cry. You've been up there in your room all day from what I understand."

"Dad... this is my fault, not his." He seemed a bit shocked, but quieted down to listen.

"Look, I did... I did something I shouldn't have. He has every right to be angry with me. I'm kinda surprised he's here. I thought he'd never want to see me again." Ruby's eyes narrowed at her sister, but as her mouth opened, Blanc interrupted.

"Yang, can I talk to you... alone?" He spoke the last word pointedly, aimed at Blake, and the defeated look in the faunus' face as enough to put the rest of the pieces together for the three at the table who weren't aware. He excused himself from the table, as politely as possible, and then left the room, hoping Yang would follow on her own.

It took her a bit longer than if she'd rushed out, but he supposed that was inevitable. No doubt they'd questioned her before letting her go, though he hoped they'd had enough sense to leave her alone. "You okay?"

"I'm terrified. I just got grilled and I'm sure when I go back it will get worse. I've never seen my dad look at me that way before, and Ruby... but I'm more scared of you."

He turned to face her, shocked. "Do you think I'd hurt you?"

"Not physically. And I know I deserve it."

He sighed, facing out to the darkening sky again. "I didn't ask to talk to you so I could make you feel bad. I don't want to know why... that's a lie, yes I do. I want to know what it means. I'm as scared of you as you are of me, I think."

"I swear. I swear I'll never hurt you Blanc. I love you!"

Facing her again, he replied "Do you? You have a shitty way of showing it. But that's the problem, Yang. I love you too, and because of that, I'm vulnerable. And you do hurt me. You... you do these things seemingly without thinking about them first, like you'll never have to worry about what comes after. Well, this is the after, Yang. So, what comes after? Can you tell me?"

He waited, turning away when she didn't say anything. She walked forward, sitting on the porch next to where he was standing. "I don't want to lose you."

"But you want her."

"I don't... I don't know what I want. I hadn't even thought about it; it just happened. And you're right. I do let things just happen and then I'm not prepared for the consequences. I don't think things through. I'm sorry. But I am trying. I never meant for what happened to happen, Blanc."

He sat next to her. "But it did."

She leaned over, putting her head on his shoulder. He didn't wrap his arm around her like she'd hoped, but he didn't push her away, either. "Yang, I don't know what to say to you, or what to do. I love you, and you know how much. And I'm really in no place to ask anything more from you than you want to give. Maybe I shouldn't have..." she went to interupt him, but he stopped her. "No, I need to say this. Maybe I shouldn't have done this. You know that."

"I remember being part of that decision. I wanted you; I still want you."

"You're only going to end up hurt. This was never going to work out in the end."

She hissed at him. "Blanc, you don't have to die. We'll find a way!"

"I already did, Yang. I died on that train." She pulled back from him, shock in her eyes. "Pyrrha brought me back, somehow. I don't even... I know you think there's some way to do this without dying, but... it doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters! I want that life with you, Blanc. I want it more than anything!"

"I'm already dying, Yang! No matter what I do, I'm dying. I... after what happened on the way out to see Jaune's parents, I went to the doctor. Check up after bleeding to death, you know." She lightly slapped his arm, unamused at his dark humor. "I have some kind of blood cancer." He paused, took a breath, and then continued. "Don't you see? I live a cursed life. My whole life has been like this, one thing after the other."

She latched onto him, trying to hold on as tight as she could. "Yang, how can I say I love you and keep you tied to me, knowing what's going to happen. No matter what we do, I'm going to die soon. I had the chance to let you go when I came back here, but I didn't. I had the chance when you put me in the hospital, and I still didn't. Now... now I think it's best if I listen to what fate is trying to tell me."

"No. No, you don't have to. We can fight this."

"No, Yang, we can't. There's no point. If I fight the cancer then I have to get treatments, and I won't be able to finish my mission. And you know I have to."

"If you loved me, you'd fight this." She was playing dirty.

"Don't do this to me, Yang. Don't manipulate me. I deserve better after everything... and you deserve to be able to love without having my ghost haunt you."

She didn't say anything for a while, and he let her think. After a few minutes, she finally responded. "Do you truly love me, Blanc?

He turned to face her, sincerity in his eyes. "You know that I do."

She nodded. "Then give me whatever time you have; whatever time you can. I want it all."

"And what about Blake? We don't even know if we can trust her."

"We can. I know we can. I don't know what happened that made you think otherwise, and you can't say."

He turned to her, looking at her without saying anything. After nearly a minute, he asked "Have you told her?"

"Of course not!"

He sighed. "Well, it can't wait anymore. I need to be certain. There's too much at stake to risk it."

She put her hand on his arm, pulling him in close, hugging him. "What do you need me to do?"

He looked toward the front door and the windows, then pulled her out further from the house.

"I'm going to take the bullhead tonight and go take care of some business. I want Blake to follow me, but I want her to think it's her idea. I need to see what she'll do. It'll have something to do with the White Fang, so I think she'll be interested. If she's not, then I don't know what that means. If she is, we'll see what she does."

"So what it is you want from me?"

"I want you to slip it to her without being direct, so we can see what she does."

"Are... are you going to hurt her?"

"Not if she's on our side. If she isn't... I can't guarantee anything without knowing what she'll do. I'm not planning on hurting her, Yang."

She stepped back and away. "I'm not sure if I should do this."

"Well, I guess that tells me how much I mean to you."

Her eyes turned red. "Didn't you just ask me not to manipulate you?"

Blanc caught a shadow moving in the corner of his eyes. Could be Qrow, but he guessed it was his quarry.

"Forget it. I'm doing this, with or without your help. Do what you want." He stalked off, her eyes turning lilac as she called for him. The shadow followed discretely, but now that he knew what to look for, he was certain she'd taken the bait.

"Blanc! Please don't go! Blanc!" It hurt him to hear the pain in her voice, but he ignored her, heading off toward town, and the school.

* * *

 **Signal Academy, Late evening**

Getting to the bullhead was simple. A fence, surrounded by tall grass in a field was all that guarded it. He supposed it was pretty reasonable; not many knew how to start one, let alone fly one, and without the ignition key it would normally be difficult. It would be for him as well if Grandpa Qrow hadn't shown him how to get around that.

The tall grass also gave his stalker the ability to follow him unobserved, but that was as desired. Following him had to be her decision if he wanted to know what her position really was. He leapt over the fence, landing in a roll and swiftly moving toward the aircraft. It wasn't even locked. He slid open the pilot-side side hatch, under the wing, and climbed aboard, intentionally leaving it open to make things easier for Blake.

The noise of prying off the panel to get at the ignition circuitry provided all of the cover Blake needed to get onto the aircraft. He'd even been prepared for it when he felt the tip of Gambol Shroud touch his neck. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing, Blake. Why are you following me?"

"You left her crying and alone, you bastard!"

"And you didn't?"

She didn't have an answer for that, so she changed the subject. "You didn't answer me. What are you doing here?"

"Going to take care of some business."

"With the White Fang?"

He laughed. "Take a seat, Blake. I'm glad you're here." She seemed surprised, but did as he asked, keeping the blade at his neck, though it was no longer touching. "I'd appreciate it if you put that away. Wouldn't want any accidents."

"While you sabotage their bullhead?"

"I'm not sabotaging it. I'm borrowing it." He hit the ignition switch and the aircraft's engines came on, turbofans spinning up and the lights and instruments coming on, startling the faunus girl. "Sit back while I get us in the air and set our course. We'll have some time to talk on the way there." He stepped into the back, shutting the hatch, and returned. He didn't wait for a her to put on her harness, lifting off and swiftly moving forward, running with his lights off.

"You've done this before."

"I've done a lot of things, Blake. We're going to see some of your old friends. When we were at the docks, I put tracking devices on the shipping containers, and I know where some of them are. We're going to intercept them before the Fang can move them out to their final destination."

"You act like you know what they want that dust for; like they have some plan for it other than to use it in their fight."

He turned the aircraft out over the water and toward the mainland, south of Vale, then set the autopilot. Turning to her, he responded "I'm pretty sure I know exactly what they're going to do with it. The question is, do you?" When she didn't respond, he turned back to the forward view. "We've got about an hour. What do you want to talk about."

"I'm sorry. I... I'm not sure how I feel about Yang but I don't want to let her go. Still, I shouldn't have done that. Not that way, anyway."

"And how should you have done that, Blake?"

She looked out the window, shame on her face. "Not while we were drunk."

"Well, congratulations. I'm sure you overheard her. She chose you."

"She still loves you."

He signed. "I know." He sounded saddened by that. "Look, Blake. It doesn't really matter. Sometimes love just isn't enough."

She waited a while, then spoke again. "What are you going to do when we get... wherever we're going."

"That depends on you. Since you decided to come along, I'm going to ask you to scout them out, so we can develop a plan to stop them."

"Are you going to kill them?"

He turned to face her, no emotion on his face. "Yes. If they run I'll let them go, but I won't let them take the dust, and if they fight they'll be trying to kill me."

"But..."

He interrupted her. "I'm not a cop, Blake. I'm not going to be arresting anyone. You need to decide, now. That dust isn't going to up to Mantle to fight Atlas. It's not going to be used on raiding Schnee mines to free faunus workers from jobs they took willingly without undo duress. They're going to use it to kill civilians all over Vale. So where do you stand, Blake. There isn't a neutral position on this. If you can't stomach killing, sit in the bullhead and do nothing. If you're with them, kill me now, because it'll be the only chance to stop me. If you're serious about your new life; about being a huntress and protecting the innocent, then fight with me."

"We don't have to kill them!"

"I get it. What do you want us to do then, Blake? Let them take the dust? Ask them nicely?" He paused, waiting for an answer. "How many do you think died at the docks, Blake?" She flinched. "We're warriors. We're fighting a war, Blake. You put a blade to my throat tonight." He got up, and she turned to watch him as he went into the back. There was a bag in the back, and Blanc began to pull black clothing out. He slipped off his coat, and began to undress, then redress in a black shirt and form fitting pants. "You're welcome to look, Blake, but try to control the drooling." He smirked at her as she huffed at him, and then tossed a set of clothes to her. "If you're going to help, put those on."

She got up, stepping into the back, and began to change in front of him, going so far as to slip of her bra as well before putting on the sports bra to support her under the form fitting clothes. He didn't look away. "Like what you see?" she teased.

"I do. You're beautiful."

"Were you serious earlier?"

"About?"

"About... about fucking us both."

He paused. "Do you want me to?" She bit her lip and nodded. "Well, that I didn't expect."

"You obviously expected me. You didn't bring the bag with you, so you put it here beforehand, or someone did it for you, and you had clothes in my size just for this." He put his armored duster back on, tonfa in place, then went back up to the cockpit. "Is this a setup?"

"It's a test, Blake, to see where you stand."

"And what it is that you want me to do?"

"I want you to do what you think is right, Blake. I'm pretty sure you're serious about not being with the Fang anymore, but I need to know if you're willing to fight with us, or if you'll still try to protect them because they were your friends."

She sat next to him. "I don't want to hurt them, but I can't let them hurt innocent people. I should have stood up earlier. I should have tried to stop it. They used to be peaceful protesters, you know? Humans as well as Faunus. And then... then when the attacks on us didn't stop, we started protecting each other and the faunus victims. And the humans... they stayed with us. It really showed me that humans cared about us too. But Adam was so angry after his mother died. Murdered. I should have tried to stop him. I was young... infatuated I guess. I thought I was in love. Angry too. She was such a sweet woman, like having a second mother. But I should have tried to stop it when they started bombing and assassinations."

He grabbed her hand across the aisle between them. "I don't think you could have done anything. The past is done; the only decision you have is what are you going to do now? I've told you what that dust will be used for; will you fight with me to stop them, even if it means killing them? Or are you going to stand by and do nothing?"

She looked down at her hand, then up at him. "I wouldn't have changed if I didn't plan to help you." He let go of her hand.

"We're 15 minutes out. I'll need to set down somewhere a bit distant so they don't hear us coming in. Do you feel comfortable scouting ahead so we can plan our assault?" She nodded, determined. "Alright. Don't engage; we'll form a plan before attacking. I've got the containers marked, and as you can see on my scroll, they're still there. They've got caches of the dust in other places as well, and some of it has already disappeared." He pulled up the map on his scroll, zooming in to their destination. "I'll set down in this field; it should be outside their patrol range, but that means we'll have a hike. How do you want to do this?"

"I'll scout ahead; you stay at the bullhead so I know where to find you. We're outside CCT range, but I'll take images with my scroll and return."

This was it; if she returned with the Fang to betray him, he knew what her position was, and what to do about it. If she returned without them to report, he was certain he could trust her. "If you don't come back within 30 minutes, I'll come after you, so be quick. If you get caught, you just need to hold out until I come for you."

"You're awfully confident. You think you can take them all out if they catch me, without any information about where they are?"

"I have my ways. You've seen me fight, and I will tell you that I've not used nearly all of my bag of tricks. You were right; I wanted you to come. I wanted you to follow me here, and I came earlier to prepare for that, but if you hadn't followed me, I'd still have gone and I'd still accomplish my mission. Yes, I'm confident I can do that and rescue you."

"If we do this, I want something from you, Blanc." He raised his eyebrow, questioning without responding. "I want you to give Yang another chance." He turned and scoffed. "I mean it."

"You don't know what you're asking, Blake, and it's not fair to ask that of me."

"Screw fair. If you care about her half as much as I do, and I know you love her, you'll do this."

"She wants you, Blake."

"Then we share her... we share you."

"Blake..."

"We can make this work. I have to believe it. She's devastated and it's my fault. And I know you're attracted to me, so don't even deny it."

"Wanting to fuck someone doesn't mean you should be in a relationship with them."

She grabbed his hand. "We won't know if we don't try." He rolled his eyes, but when he went to pull his hand away, she held on. "At least promise to try."

"Fine. I'll... I'll think about it. That's the best you'll get. I can't believe I'm even considering this."

Blake looked triumphant, though, relishing in the idea that she might get to live out her fantasy.

"I'm guessing that means you're attracted to me too?"

"If we weren't flying and you weren't still only Yang's, I'd fuck you right now."

"Damn. All you huntresses are feisty."

"We're horny, Blanc. Hell, I bet Weiss'd fuck you if you were open to it." He gagged. "What?"

"I'll... I'll explain it later.

"What, are you fucking her sister or something?"

"No! Dust no. Blake, I'm not fucking anyone but Yang. Dust, give me a break and get your head in the game and out of my pants." She grabbed his groin. "Blake! Not now." She let go, but was smirking herself.

* * *

 **White Fang Encampment, south-southwest of Vale, late night**

Blake landed quietly on a tree near a container. She couldn't believe they'd hidden themselves so well. If Blanc hadn't known they were here... they couldn't really be seen from the air unless you were directly overhead, and despite not being far from Vale, there were no settlements out this way. The forest cover was thick, almost like a jungle, and she'd been surprised at the lack of Grimm until she'd stumbled upon a patrol of Fang methodically killing nevermore in the trees, forcing her to hide.

Blake was well trained at infiltration, however, and the guards, while having excellent night vision that was common to almost all faunus, weren't looking for someone in the branches; they were looking for something in the air or arriving via the nearby stream. There was a small road, little more than a pair of tracks, and even now trucks were being loaded up with dust from the containers that had likely been flown in. Once the dust left on those trucks, Blanc would lose track of it. He'd said he had some way of tracking the containers, but the containers were not easily moved in this kind of foliage. She darted into another tree, avoiding the wandering gaze of one of the sentries on top of a container, and moving further into the camp.

Most of the sentries were on top of the containers, stacked to make walls, and underneath branches that remained unbroken. Someone had sawed off the lower branches, and the containers had been moved. She hadn't seen any equipment that could move them, nor was the ground hard enough that such equipment wouldn't sink; it wasn't a marsh, but the ground had that softness of a forest with relatively frequent rainfall. Not quite mud, but especially close to the water, where even now some were filling water bags and canteens, the ground was soft and left impressions from footsteps. She guessed that the containers had been moved by hand, indicating a lot of manpower.

There were what appeared to be hastily erected barracks; she'd guessed that they'd used the limbs and trees from this man-made clearing to build them. Even then, trees still dotted the campsite, providing overhead cover. Enough cover that she expected it would keep anyone not looking for them specifically from seeing them, and one of the few defensive emplacements she did see were the strapped together dust weapons that the Fang used for anti-aircraft if they couldn't steal something from Atlas or the SDC. Vale had relatively no military to speak of, just the guard on the walls, and their weapons would be noticed if they went missing. Especially because they were built into the wall itself.

All four of the kingdoms had some sort of wall. She'd heard that Vacuo's was the smallest, having been made from hewn rock, and Atlas' was made from the ever present ice, though she knew for a fact that inside that ice was a concrete wall capable of supporting it and allowing the kingdom to move troops inside. Vale's was built into the mountains, and where they didn't have mountains stood an impressive bullwark of wood, stone, and steal that was supposed to be the tallest of the kingdom's walls that weren't natural barriers, like Mistrals, which was some sort of ancient hardwood that was both attractive, and semi-petrified. She'd only seen any of them from the air; assaulting the walls was considered suicide, at least from the outside. Even Vacuo's wall was supposed to be crammed with weaponry and constantly well guarded, and capable of withstanding the common sand storms and some extremely large and fierce grimm.

This camp had no walls, but it did have guards within no greater than five arm lengths from each other; some standing so close that they bumped into each other occasionally. The camp had too many guards for them to assault, and as she checked her scroll's timer, having finished photographing the positions of the sentries, guards, trucks, dust stockpiles, and AA positions, she prepared to return to Blanc. Maybe they could get Vale to strike it from the air, or at least assault it with a hunter team or three.

"Going so soon, my love?" A hand reached out and grabbed her from behind, wrapping around her mouth and dragging her back into the assailant's chest, and knocking the scroll from her hand, unnoticed.

* * *

Blake was late. It didn't mean she'd turned on him. He hoped that wasn't just himself being hopeful. Either way, it was time to check on her.

Crossing the forest took him no time at all; when you can go back in time and displace in space, all he had to do was look to make sure he knew where he would land and that he wouldn't be observed. What had taken Blake 10 minutes of quick but careful jumps between trees took him less than one. He found the sentries inattentive, paying attention to something going on in the middle of the camp.

There were no torches or fires; the faunus didn't need the additional light to see, and they'd likely avoid a heat source that gave off light.

"I'm happy to see you, my love. Did you come back to me to beg forgiveness? Back to your brothers and sisters? I'd heard rumors that you'd sworn yourself to the filthy humans in their city." Blake was on her knees, while a red haired faunus stalked around her, blade drawn. Blanc hadn't seen him before, but based on the description he was sure the man was Adam Taurus. Blake didn't speak, head down, and Adam smashed her with the pommel of his sword, knocking her to the ground. Blanc pulled the boltor he'd carried with him up to his shoulder and sighted, but instead of moving to strike her again, or worse, he put the blade away, squating down in front of her, reaching a hand out to caress the cheek where he'd struck her, like a parent would to a child, if they were abusing that child.

"Speak up, Blake my love. I'm ashamed to admit it, but you did hurt me so with your betrayal when you abandoned me on that train." Her head looked back up at him, and given the way the brute sat back, slightly shocked, her face must've been startling. "You would throw away this chance at reconciliation?" He stood back up, turning from her to the crowd of white cloaked terrorists. "Sisters! Brothers! Our wayward sister has rejected us, having come to us here. What shall we do with her?"

He turned back to her, looking down at her. Blanc could see blood coming down from her scalp where she'd been struck. "Shall we strip her and leave her for the grimm? Perhaps 200 lashes and another chance to repent?" He drew the blade, putting it to her neck as she backed away to keep it from cutting her. "I think perhaps we should show her the most kindness we can show to a traitor, and help her leave this world." Blanc's fingers were on the trigger, but again Adam put his blade away, unwet.

"What say you, my people?"

Blanc didn't wait for an answer. He put the gun back on magnetic harness, then ripped through time and space, tonfa out, and began to quietly kill the sentries. There was murmuring from the crowd; evidently Blake was better liked than Adam thought, and even now some were willing to speak up for her. Blanc quietly lowered the corpse of a deer faunus to the container she'd been standing on, a hole punched into her neck at the jugular, then repeated the same a half-second back to the next sentry, this time a male rabbit faunus off on a container to her left, enraptured by the spectacle. Unfortunately, a dust round pinged off the container from a sentry who'd spotted him, and the rapid fire from the woman's rifle was loud and attention catching. It didn't save her; Blanc appeared to her side, swinging his arm around, and her head left her body as the tonfa along his left armed ripped it away. Even now sentries and members of the crowd, armed for patrol, began to track their guns up to his position, even as he disappeared yet again, stabbing both the gunner and the loader for one of their hastily-made anti-aircraft weapons, and turning the thing on the crowd in front of it. It only took a few seconds to empty the extended magazines on the rifles into them, but he'd gunned down at least 10, and caused the crowd to scatter. It'd also left he impression that they had been infiltrated by a much larger force.

He dropped from a container into a patrol that had taken cover from the AA gun position there, the corpse of the sentry from above them landing on one of the unfortunate souls. Glyphs flashed along his arms as the tonfa in long sword form stabbed each of them in the back, rapidly, finishing with a downward thrust of both blades into the poor pig faunus trapped under the corpse of the sentry. Adam fired Wilt at the intruder, a certain hit, but the attacker disappeared instead. The buckshot did not strike the container behind it; it was as if Adam's shot had been a blank.

Everywhere around them, Blake and Adam could hear the screams of the dying. The rapid thump of a weapon was heard as a faunus who'd been running for one of the barracks was struck in the back and pinned to the wall with metal bolts, beside the door he'd been seeking for cover. "Fight my brothers and sisters!" Adam screamed, trying to rally his troops. Most were simple laborers, entranced by the idea that they were being held down by humans, rather than failing to live up to their own potential, either through laziness or poor decisions, but now that they were actually witnessing the horror of the war they had thought would be glorious, they fled in terror.

Adam struck a fleeing dog faunus down himself, her eyes stuck open in shock as she died. "Fight or I'll cut you down myself!" A bolt struck his blade where he'd deflected it from his face, but the shooter wasn't visible to him. Adam stalked forward, Blake leaving his thoughts for a moment, when containers on the outskirts of their encampment exploded. Shortly afterward, the trucks loaded with dust exploded, destroying half of the camp and lighting nearby empty containers on fire. Adam, like everyone else, was thrown to the ground from the blast.

Paulie, a former lumber jack who insisted on being called 'Bonesaw' when wearing the mask of the white fang, exited the barracks, now burning like most of the remaining camp. Most of the faunus had been killed in the blast from the trucks, but of those remaining, only Adam was now standing, still nearby Blake. A nearby faunus crawled, his leg broken, the tibia sticking out as he dragged himself away, toward the barracks and Paulie. Paulie revved up his weapon, looking for a target to take out his revenge upon. "Boo." Paulie didn't have time time to react; a blade jammed through his back, up inside his ribcage, and into his heart. The chainsaw dropped as a hand reached around, pulling his mask from his face, and 'Bonesaw' died as Paulie the lumber jack, having never fought a single human while in the white fang's great crusade. His murderer put the mask on, dropping the lumberjack's corpse, and then stabbed the crawling faunus through the neck. Blake watched in horror, and Adam stood before her, almost protectively, hand set to draw Blush.

"Who are you? Do you know what you've done?"

The man in the black coat, wearing a stolen mask, said nothing, twirling his twin swords to fling the blood off them, then snapping them up along his arms, and Blake recognized him. Her gorge rose up, and she let it go, vomiting. Adam didn't spare her a glance, unwilling to take his eyes off the man who'd destroyed their encampment. "Do you know how long it took us to get this dust?"

Blanc charged, glyphs accelerating his limbs, and caught Adam's blade before he could fully draw it, punching forward with the tonfa on his left, only for Adam to turn his head slightly, causing it to miss. What followed was a flurry of blocks as Adam used his arms to direct the weapons away from his body, finally being kicked away from the cat faunus at his feet, and now their positions were reversed. Adam stood, dropping his right hand over to draw Blush again, while Blanc stood between him and Blake, protectively. As Adam began to charge his semblance, Blake tried to warn Blanc, but the man dropped his tonfa, both long points sticking into the softened earth. One stabbed through her puddle of sick, which fascinated Blake for a moment. Just long enough for Blanc to draw his rifle, already firing, and forcing Adam to stop his attack in order to use Blush to block the bolts. Blanc emptied the magazine, mechanically dropping it and reloading from another stored inside his coat as Adam panted with the effort necessary to block so much in such a short span of time, his aura damaged from those he couldn't stop.

"Wait. Wait!" Blanc didn't wait, opening up on the bull again, forcing him to drive for cover, rolling through the trampled earth, and pulling another fang member over to cover him as he rolled, the bolts smacking into her flesh, piercing through it. It was the dog faunus he'd killed earlier. "Stop! Please Stop!" Adam screamed as bolts began to cut through the corpse above him.

The magazine emptied, and Blanc dropped it, taking a third from his coat to reload. He never completed the action, however, as he was drop-kicked from the side by a giggling man with a long braid. "Time to go! Our mistress isn't quite done with you yet, young man." The man grinned, blades snapping out on his arms like claws, and built-in submachineguns firing on Blanc, who quickly turned his back and ducked down to cover himself and Blake with the armor of his coat. "Get to the bullhead!" he yelled at the Fang leader, firing in bursts to keep his target down and protecting the girl, and Adam listened, running for the aircraft that had landed nearby after the explosion.

"And you! You're supposed to be dead!" The madman screamed in anger, charging at Blanc, who kicked back at just the right time to strike the charging man in the chin and knock him onto his ass. Blanc then disappeared, reappearing on top of a nearby container, fire dwindling on it's side as the dust traces burned off. He dropped from it's height three containers up, coat flared to slow his fall, and his tonfa drawn, almost catching his target by surprise. "Oh, you're just full of surprises!" The sound of the bullhead's engines ramping up was the crazy man's cue, and he stepped back and away, quickly bowing at the waist. "Until next time, unstoppable man." He giggled as he ran away, leaping into the side of the fleeing bullhead, already lifting off.

Instead of pursuing them, Blanc knelt and pulled Blake up and into his arms, her eyes wide. He hugged her, fearing she was going into shock, and cooed at her, trying to sooth her heart. "Shhh... I'm sorry I took so long. It'll be okay."

"You... you... you came. You actually came."

"I said I would. I keep my word. Something I got from my father."

"You killed them!" He held her tightly, keeping her close to prevent her from attacking him, letting her weep after she'd exhausted herself struggling, saying nothing. He lost track of time, holding her while she sobbed, and when he next looked up and around, it was to see Yang, Ruby, Qrow, Taiyang, and Winter, standing nearby and looking at the carnage, weapons ready. He reached up, pulling the mask from his face.

"Blanc? Did you two... ?" Yang reach down to help him with Blake, who'd fallen asleep in his arms.

"I did. Adam Taurus was here, and took her hostage."

Winter interrupted. "The terrorist leader?" He nodded back, as Yang lifted Blake into her arms, beginning to walk back toward Winter had landed her yacht after they'd pursued the stolen bullhead.

Blanc stood, and Qrow addressed him. "I gotta hand it to you, kid, you don't hold back." Blanc said nothing, reaching down to pick up the tonfa and put them into his coat, wiping the dirt and fluids off on one of the nearby corpses. "Not much respect for the dead?"

"It doesn't do them any good, and I didn't know them. Besides, Taurus killed this one himself when she ran." The corpse was almost cut in half, metal bolts jammed through the torso everywhere, but the long slash down her back that had severed her spine was evident.

Taiyang finally spoke. "And how many did you kill while they ran from you, Blanc?"

"As many as I had to. How'd you find us?"

"You mean other than the giant fire in the middle of no where? Yang followed Blake's scroll." Tai handed it over; the device was cracked but still functional, the camera function having switched over to the gallery and showing a collection of pictures of White Fang zealots in position around the camp. "There must be over a hundred dead here."

"I didn't come back in time to have teaparties and ask them nicely not to doom us all." Taiyang looked over at Winter, eyes wide. "Don't worry, she's in the know." He looked over at Winter and Qrow, standing and quietly talking together. "Nice to see you two not screaming at each other."

Qrow spoke before Winter could. "Kid, this is business, and we're both professionals. We looked at those photos. There's no way the two of you could take this camp alone. You'd at least need a good team."

A voice spoke from behind him, tonfa blade carefully tapping him on the throat, softly enough his aura didn't flare. He was still looking at Blanc, when Blanc disappeared from sight. "I don't think you understand what I'm capable of, Grandpa."

He twisted around. "Don't call me that! Makes me feel old." Winter chuckled. "I'll go back and get the bullhead. I'm pretty quick when I want to be. You go on with the rest of them."

Taiyang waved his arm to the burning camp. "And the survivors?"

"Tai, if there are any survivors, there won't by in a few hours. Grimm are definitely on the way, and it's not our job to save them." Blanc disappeared, reappearing a few seconds later.

"Nope. No survivors."

"Made sure of it, did you?" Taiyang was still angry.

"I'm not without mercy."

"Kid, you're fucked up. And coming from me, that's saying something." Blanc shrugged, then walked away, heading for the yacht. Qrow turned toward Winter and Taiyang, who'd gathered with him. "Be careful with this one. Something tells me he's broken." Qrow stepped away, whistling, into the treeline, then disappeared, a small bird flying just over the treetops, headed for the stolen property of Signal Academy, it's homing beacon still functional, turned on intentionally while Blanc had landed.

* * *

This was a pretty long chapter; I'd wanted to get right to the action, but it needed some buildup and I didn't want to skip the flight over with Blake.

In the original plan I had for this scene, the others arrived and exposed Blake on accident, leading Blanc to jump into the middle of the camp and start slaughtering everyone, much to his friend's horror as they watched. The problem with that is that it didn't seem reasonable to me, given that the Fang have had time to setup and prepare, and that this was supposed to be a large encampment with the majority of those who ended up at Mountain Glenn. By the time Blanc directly confronts Adam, he would have been covered in blood from those he'd slaughtered, and in the dark fire it would have looked a lot like a grimm. I ended up scrapping that as unrealistic.

This is also a sort of turning-point in the story. The action from here on tends toward violence and death. There is still about two weeks left of their break before returning to Beacon, at which point there's still a day or two before classes resume. No ETA on the next chapter, which I haven't yet started.


End file.
